» 


PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

PROCEEDINGS 

OF  A 

PUBLIC  MEETING 

HELD  AT 

FANEUIL  HALL, 

JUNE  7,  1876. 
BOSTON : 

FRANKLIN  PRESS:  RANI),  AVERY,  &  CO. 
187G. 


58 


PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF  A 

PUBLIC  MEETING 

HELD  AT 

FANEUIL  HALL, 

June  7,  1876. 


BOSTON : 

FRANKLIN  PRESS :    RAND,  AVERY,  &  CO. 
187G. 


BO 


61 


CONTENTS. 


Organization  of  Meeting   5 

Speech  of  Mr.  Joseph  S.  Ropes   .7 

"       "  Mr.  George  B.  Chase   10 

"       "   Mr.  Richard  H.  Dana,  jun   11 

"       "  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes   20 

«       "  Rev.  Rollin  H.  Neale,  D.D   26 

"        "  Rev.  J.  P.  Bodfish   27 

"       "   Col.  Charles  W.  Wilder   31 

"       «  Mr.  Joseph  F.  Paul   33 

"       "  Hon.  P.  A.  Collins   36 

Letter  of  Dr.  Edward  H.  Clarke   38 

Committee  of  One  Hundred   45 


62 


63 


FANEUIL  HALL  MEETING 
FAVOR  OF  PUBLIC  PARKS. 


Pursuant  to  a  call  published  in  all  the  daily  papers,  and 
signed  by  a  large  number  of  prominent  citizens  and  tax-payers 
of  Boston,  a  public  meeting  was  convened  in  Faneuil  Hall  on 
the  evening  of  Wednesday,  the  7th  of  June,  1876,  to  take  action 
on  the  recommendations  contained  in  the  Report  of  the  Park 
Commissioners.  The  hall  was  crowded  by  an  intelligent  and 
enthusiastic  audience ;  and  the  proceedings,  as  reported  verbatim 
in  the  columns  of  the  "  Boston  Morning  Journal,"  were  as 
follows :  — 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  eight  o'clock  by  Mr. 
John  W.  Candler,  who  said,  — 

Gentlemen,  —  As  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, I  have  been  requested  to  call  this  meeting  to  order.  It 
is  usually  the  case,  that,  when  a  mass  meeting  of  citizens  is  to 
be  held,  a  great  deal  of  labor  has  to  be  performed  in  preparing 
for  and  organizing  the  meeting.  But  I  am  glad  to  say,  that,  on 
this  occasion,  the  important  advantage  of  having  a  public  almost 
entirely  in  our  favor  was  enjoyed  by  the  Committee.  We  found 
a  strong  and  intelligent  and  deep-seated  sentiment  almost 
unanimous  throughout  the  community,  in  favor  of  having  the 
City  Government  take  prompt  and  favorable  action  upon  the 
report  of  the  Park  Commissioners.  [Applause.]  We  found 
the  community  earnest  and  enthusiastic  in  the  desire  that  a 
system  of  parks  should  be  projected  for  the  city  of  Boston,  to 
insure  the  health,  and  to  make  certain  and  positive  the  prosper- 
ity, of  our  citizens  in  the  future.    The  Committee  had  only  to 


6 


PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


present  the  call  or  address  through  the  press,  which  some  of 
you  have  read,  to  find  hundreds  read)'  to  indorse  it ;  and  the 
authorities  had  only  to  open  wide  the  doors  of  Faneuil  Hall  to 
have  the  people  throng  here,  as  they  have  to-night,  to  manifest 
the  sentiment  which  they  feel  so  generally. 

Gentlemen,  we  have  with  us  to-night  men  of  science,  philan- 
thropists, the  representatives  of  the  learned  professions.  We 
have  the  capitalist ;  we  have  the  merchant ;  we  have  the  me- 
chanic ;  and  we  have  the  daily  laborer,  who  toils  from  the  rising 
to  the  setting  sun,  —  we  have  them  all  here,  to  give  out  a  voice 
to-night,  expressing  the  opinions  of  the  people,  which  can 
neither  be  misrepresented  nor  misunderstood.  [Applause.] 

It  is  not  my  duty,  gentlemen,  to  make  a  speech.  You  have 
here  this  evening  to  address  you,  the  representatives  of  every 
class,  the  best  that  can  be  afforded  in  any  city,  the  leading  men 
of  the  city  of  Boston  in  the  different  professions.  It  is  only 
necessary,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty,  that  I  should  read  to 
you  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  whom  you  will  be  asked  to 
elect  as  the  officers  of  this  meeting.    They  are  as  follows :  — 

PRESIDENT. 
The  Hon.  JOSEPH  S.  ROPES. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  William  Amort,  Richard  Frothingham,  Peter 
C.  Brooks,  Martin  Brimmer,  George  C.  Richardson,  Benjamin  F.  Thomas, 
Edward  S.  Rand,  Henry  P.  Kidder,  Thomas  J.  Gargan,  Eben  D.  Jordan,  C. 
A.  Richards,  John  C.  Crowley,  William  B.  Bacon,  Aaron  D.  Williams} 
Charles  F.  Donnelly,  Wm.  W.  Clapp,  Benjamin  Deane,  Richard  Olney, 
William  Atherton,  Thomas  Gogin,  William  Endicott,  jcn.,  Albert  Bow- 
ker,  Daniel  J.  Sweeney,  Patrick  T.  Jackson,  R.  ML  Pulsifer,  Roland 
Worthington,  J ohn  G.  Blake,  M.D.  J.  H.  Chadwick,  Lewis  Coleman. 

SECRET  AR  FES. 
HAMILTON  A.  HILL.  WILLIAM  E.  PERKINS. 

The  list  of  names  was  unanimously  approved  ;  and  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  election  of  the  gentlemen  named  therein 
was  received  with  applause. 


65 


SPEECn  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  S.  ROrES.  7 

Mr.  Candler  continued,  I  have  the-  honor  of  introducing  to 
you  Joseph  S.  Ropes,  Esq.,  a  merchant  of  Boston,  who  has 
been  called  to  fill  a  great  many  places  of  trust,  and  who  has 
always  been  found  able  in  the  discharge  of  every  duty,  and 
faithful  in  every  trust  committed  to  him. 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  S.  ROPES. 

Fellow-Citizens,  —  I  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have 
done  me  in  inviting  me  to  preside  on  this  auspicious  occasion. 
You  have  come  together  to-night,  not  to  quarrel  with  one 
another's  politics,  not  to  abuse  one  another's  rival  candidates, 
but  to  hold  a  friendly  consultation  upon  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant and  interesting  and  agreeable  subjects  which  can  engage 
your  attention,  —  the  subject  of  public  parks  for  the  city  of 
Boston.  [Applause.] 

Gentlemen,  I  was  born  in  Boston ;  and  I  well  remember  the 
time  when  our  cows  were  pastured  on  Boston  Common,  when 
the  Back  Bay  was  not  a  myth,  but  a  reality,  and  when  at  least 
a  portion  of  the  summit  of  Beacon  Hill  was  covered  with  green 
fields,  on  which  were  seen  sometimes  "  raree  shows  "  and  trav- 
elling menageries.  Since  that  time,  our  city  has  grown  and 
swelled,  and  stretched  itself  north  and  south,  and  east  and  west, 
striding  over  one  arm  of  the  sea,  filling  up  another,  swallowing 
the  neighboring  towns  one  by  one,  taking  two  mouthfuls  for 
Roxbury,  and  one  for  Dorchester,  and  one  for  Charlestown  and 
Brighton  together,  until  it  has  expanded  its  population  seven- 
fold, and  its  area  almost  seventy  times  seven,  within  fifty  years. 
Yet  there  stands  Boston  Common  just  where  and  just  what  it 
was  —  no  larger,  and  thank  heaven!  as  yet  no  smaller  [loud 
applause]  —  than  it  was  fifty  years  ago. 

Where  are  the  breathing-places  for  this  enlarged  metropolis  ? 
Where  are  the  places  of  common  resort  for  quiet  and  healthful 
enjoyment  and  peaceful  recreation  for  this  expanded  population  ? 
Where  are  the  noble  parks  and  the  wide-spreading  groves? 
Where  are  the  places  fit  for  public  entertainment,  which  we  find 
in  every  other  large  city  in  the  civilized  world?  —  such  as  we 


()(; 


8  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

see  in  London  and  Paris  and  Berlin  and  Vienna  and  Florence 
and  Rome  and  Naples  —  yes,  even  for  the  few  brief  months  of 
summer,  in  the  northern  capitals  of  Stockholm  and  St.  Peters- 
burg ?  And  echo  answers,  "  Where?"  [Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.] 

"  Gone  like  a  vision  !  " 

My  friends,  I  need  not  tell  you  that  this  matter  has  excited 
the  interest  of  our  philanthropic  and  public-spirited  citizens, 
and  especially  of  the  medical  faculty,  to  whom  it  is,  in  its 
sanitary  aspect,  a  matter  of  most  important  practical  interest. 
And,  through  their  representations  to  the  city  government  and 
to  the  state  legislature,  a  bill  was  brought  before  the  legisla- 
ture, which  I  had  the  honor  myself  to  report  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  a  little  more  than  a  year  ago,  and  which  was 
passed  by  large  majorities  in  both  houses,  authorizing  the  city 
of  Boston  to  purchase  and  to  take  lands  within  its  own  limits 
for  laying  out  public  parks,  and  to  co-operate  with  adjacent 
towns  in  laying  out  conterminous  parks  for  the  common  benefit 
and  advantage  of  citizens  on  both  sides  of  the  line. 

This  measure  was  opposed  (as  all  such  measures  are  opposed) 
on  the  ground  that  "  it  would  lead  to  jobbery  and  extrava- 
gance." And  the  answer  was  ready  at  hand,  that  all  public 
enterprises  are  liable  "  to  lead  to  jobbery  and  extravagance," 
but  that  the  abuse  of  a  good  thing  is  no  argument  against  its 
valid  use  [applause]  ;  that  it  is  for  the  citizens  themselves,  and 
for  the  government  of  the  city  of  Boston,  to  see  that  their  trust 
is  rightly  and  honestly  carried  out. 

Again  :  it  was  argued  that  the  people  of  Boston  possess  already, 
in  their  beautiful  suburbs,  all  that  is  required  in  pure  air  and 
beautiful  scenery.  And  this,  again,  is  most  true  as  regards 
those  who  live  in  those  suburbs,  and  those  whose  wealth  enables 
them  to  pass  to  and  fro  in  their  carriages,  and  regale  their  senses 
with  the  luxury  of  what  they  there  find.  But  what  application 
has  this,  my  friends,  to  the  working-man,  to  the  masses  of  our 
population,  whose  sole  idea  of  the  suburbs  consists  of  an  hour's 
rattling  drive  in  a  crowded  street-car,  and  an  hour's  seat  by  the 
side  of  a  dusty  thoroughfare  ? 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  S.  ROPES. 


9 


Again :  it  was  argued  that  the  city  of  Boston  could  not  afford 
this  expensive  luxury  of  parks.  And  to  this  again  it  was  easy 
to  reply,  that  so  long  as  the  city  of  Boston  could  afford  prisons 
and  jails,  and  any  number  of  millions  spent  for  liquor  and  for 
hurtful  indulgences,  and  for  the  repression  of  vice  and  crime, 
it  could  afford  to  spend  money  for  this  peaceful  and  healthful 
and  elevating  enjoyment  for  the  people. 

In  a  word,  gentlemen,  this  bill  became  a  law ;  and,  in  pursu- 
ance of  that  law,  a  Commission  was  appointed  by  the  city  of 
Boston,  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  composing  which  Commis- 
sion I  need  not  repeat  to  you ;  for  they  are  in  all  your  hearts, 
as  well  as  on  all  your  lips.  The  Report  of  that  Commission  is 
now,  and  has  been  for  weeks,  in  your  hands  ;  and  it  is  the  object 
of  this  meeting  to  indorse  that  Report,  and  to  stimulate  and 
incite  the  government  of  the  city  of  Boston  to  act  in  accordance 
with  its  suggestions.  We  cannot  expect  that  all  its  details  will 
be  approved  by  every  one  ;  nor  are  we  to  suppose  that  all  its 
details  will  be  carried  out  in  action  by  the  government.  But  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  so  well  digested,  so  full  and 
complete,  and  in  every  way  so  satisfactory  to  the  city  and  the 
citizens,  that  we  cannot  do  better  than  recommend  it  as  a  whole 
to  the  municipal  authorities.  [Applause.] 

Now,  my  friends,  it  is  not  for  me  to  do  what  will  be  so  much 
better  done  by  those  who  succeed  me  on  this  platform,  —  to  give 
you  the  reasons,  and  enforce  the  arguments,  for  your  action  at 
this  time.  But  as  a  representative  of  the  city  of  Boston,  as  an 
almost  constant  resident  within  it  for  nearly  thirty  years  past,  as 
in  my  humble  sphere  a  representative  of  the  merchants  of  Bos- 
ton, as  a  taxpayer  of  Boston,  and  in  every  way  identified  with 
the  best  interests  and  all  the  highest  and  best  aims  of  our  city, 
I  call  upon  you  to-night  to  adopt  and  to  indorse  and  to  com- 
mend this  admirable  system  to  our  city  government.  [Applause.] 
I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  George  B.  Chase, 
who  will  present  the  resolutions. 


68 


10  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  GEORGE  B.  CHASE. 

Mr.  President,  —  On  behalf  of  the  committee  who  have  had 
in  charge  the  arrangements  for  this  meeting,  I  have  the  honor  to 
offer  for  its  acceptance  several  resolutions  which  have  been 
prepared  for  it  by  a  gentleman,  than  whom  none  is  more  versed 
in  all  that  relates  to  the  business  questions  and  interests  of  the 
city  of  Boston,  and  who,  during  long  and  faithful  service  as 
secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  became  familiar  with  all  sub- 
jects relating  to  the  development  and  prosperity  of  the  city.  It 
is  hardly  necessary,  Mr.  Chairman,  in  such  a  connection,  to  men- 
tion the  name  of  Mr.  Hamilton  A.  Hill.  [Applause.] 

Mr.  Chase  then  read  the  resolutions  as  follows :  — 

Resolved,  That  this  meeting  would  hereby  emphatically 
re-affirm  the  opinion  which  has  been  expressed,  at  the  polls  and 
elsewhere,  by  the  citizens  and  tax-payers  of  Boston,  that  the 
time  has  arrived  when  this  city  should  be  provided  with  a  park 
or  parks  similar  to  those  which  have  been  projected  by  the  other 
great  cities  of  the  United  States,  adapted  to  the  wants  of  our 
large  and  steadily  increasing  population,  and  on  a  scale  commen- 
surate with  the  growing  commercial  importance  and  metropoli- 
tan influence  of  the  city. 

Resolved,  That  the  plan  for  a  system  of  parks  and  parkways, 
prepared  and  recommended  by  the  Park  Commissioners,  com- 
mends itself  to  this  meeting  as  broad  and  comprehensive  in  its 
general  features,  fair  to  all  sections  of  the  city  in  its  details, 
admirably  suited  to  meet  all  the  necessities  of  the  case,  and 
promising,  when  carried  out,  to  make  Boston  one  of  the  most 
healthful,  attractive,  and  beautiful  cities  in  the  world. 

Resolved,  That  the  pressing  need  which  exists  for  a  radical 
improvement  of  the  sewerage  in  some  parts  of  the  city,  the 
present  cheapness  and  abundance  of  labor,  the  diminished  value 
of  land,  and  the  exceptionally  favorable  terms  on  which  the  city 
can  now  negotiate  for  money,  render  it  of  the  first  importance 
that  there  should  be  no  delay  on  the  part  of  the  city  government 
in  the  acceptance  of  the  proposed  plan,  and  in  the  adoption  of 
decided  and  vigorous  measures  for  carrying  it  into  execution. 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  RICHARD  U.  DANA,  JUX. 


11 


Resolved,  That  this  meeting  would  therefore  respectfully  and 
earnestly  ask  for  immediate  and  favorable  official  action  upon 
the  Report  of  the  Commissioners,  and  that  the  chairman  and  sec- 
retaries are  hereby  authorized  and  requested  to  communicate  a 
copy  of  these  resolutions,  properly  authenticated,  to  his  Honor 
the  Mayor,  and  to  each  branch  of  the  City  Council. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  one  hundred  be  appointed  by 
the  Chair,  to  represent  this  meeting  before  the  city  government, 
and  to  secure  the  desired  action  by  it  without  loss  of  time. 

The  Chairman.  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  resolu- 
tions, which  evidently  meet  with  your  unanimous  approbation. 
You  will  now  be  addressed  in  behalf  of  these  resolutions 
by  one  who  needs  no  introduction  from  me,  Mr.  Richard  H. 
Dana,  Jun.    [Prolonged  applause.] 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  RICHARD  H.  DANA,  JUN. 

Fellow-Citizexs,  —  I  thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart  for  this  very  kind  welcome  I  have  received  at  your  hands 
to-night  on  coming  upon  the  platform.  I  assure  you,  gentlemen, 
if  I  felt  at  liberty  to  waste  the  precious  hours  of  this  evening 
upon  any  thing  relating  to  myself,  I  could  say  much  more  than 
I  do  to  thank  you  for  your  great  kindness. 

But,  gentlemen,  we  are  met  here  on  public  business.  You 
have  heard  what  we  are  asked  to  do.  We  are  asked  to  petition 
the  city  government,  and  send  a  committee  of  force  to  the  city 
government  (not  as  if  the  government  were  at  all  reluctant, 
but  that  they  may  know  the  feeling  of  the  people  of  Boston), 
and  ask  the  city  government  to  go  to  work  at  once,  and  see 
that  Boston  has,  as  soon  as  possible,  these  necessities  for  her 
honor,  her  health,  and  her  beauty.  [Applause.] 

In  thinking  of  this  subject,  Mr.  President  and  gentlemen, 
it  occurred  to  me  that  it  was  a  very  singular  fact,  and  not 
altogether  to  the  credit  of  human  nature,  that  great  numbers 
of  persons  cannot  live  together  without  extreme  inconvenience. 
Now,  Robinson  Crusoe,  when  he  lived  on  the  Island  of  Juan 


70 


12  PARKS  FOR  TEE  PEOPLE. 

Fernandez  alone,  was  not  troubled  with  any  question  of  public 
parks,  or  drainage,  or  health.  Things  took  care  of  themselves. 
But  when  you  get  two  or  three  or  four  hundred  thousand  Robin- 
son Crusoes  in  a  few  square  miles,  you  find  the  whole  state  of 
things  is  reversed,  that  you  require  all  the  patience,  all  the 
science,  a  large  part  of  the  money,  and  a  large  part  of  the  indus- 
try, of  the  population,  that  you  may  live  at  all,  and  on  any  terms. 
The  lower  parts  of  our  nature,  the  animal  parts,  tend  to  produce 
certain  results  which  the  intellectual  parts  are  expected  to  meet 
and  control.  If  they  do  not  that,  men  become  savages  :  if  they 
do,  they  are  enlightened. 

Now,  in  this  great  and  enlightened  city  of  Boston,  the  pride 
of  us  all,  the  "Athens  of  America,"  as  we  all  know  we  are 
[laughter],  and,  as  our  friend  Dr.  Holmes  there  has  told  us, 
the  "Hub  of  the  Universe"  [laughter],  it  would  hardly  be 
respectful  to  say  that  one  of  the  questions  before  us  was.  Which 
of  those  two  roads  we  were  going  to  take,  —  whether  we  were 
going  to  let  the  intellectual  and  moral  parts  have  the  upper 
hand,  or  whether  we  were  going  to  sink  beneath  the  material 
part.  And  yet,  gentlemen,  that  is  a  good  deal  the  question  that 
is  before  us  to-night. 

Why,  look  at  the  progress  which  is  inevitably  made  where 
you  get  great  numbers  of  human  beings  together.  You  must 
have  drainage,  you  must  look  to  the  health  of  the  population, 
and  then  you  must  look  to  their  recreation  and  their  amuse- 
ments (for  they  will  have  them)  ;  and,  if  they  are  not  good  and 
creditable  and  honorable,  they  will  not  cease  to  exist,  but  they 
will  come  before  us  in  the  most  shameful  and  unwholesome 
form.  We  used  to  be  told,  gentlemen,  that  Boston  had  natural 
parks  all  about  her,  and  she  did  not  need  any  artificial  parks. 
Well,  now,  I  am  not  in  favor  of  an)'  artificial  parks.  All  I  ask 
is,  that  the  beauty  of  the  environs  of  Boston  may  be  preserved. 
[Applause.] 

We  are  on  the  defensive.  We  are  defending  the  wholesome- 
ness  and  the  beauty  of  our  beloved  city  against  this  encroach- 
ment of  population.  Why,  the  time  was  —  Mr.  Ropes  will  tell 
you  when  the  time  was  —  when  the  Back  Bay  was  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water,  filled  at  high  tide,  carrying  the  healthful  air 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  RICHARD  H.  DANA,  JUN. 


13 


through  the  whole  city.  But  then  the  necessity  of  population 
called  for  its  filling  up,  and  it  is  now  piled  in  upon,  and  we  have 
there  now  what  Dr.  Clarke  called  "  a  natural  cesspool." 

We  changed  the  Back  Bay  from  a  beautiful  bay,  where  the 
wholesome  tides  of  the  ocean  swept  in,  to  a  natural  cesspool. 

Well,  now,  look  at  the  lanes  and  roads  in  the  suburbs  of  Bos- 
ton —  beautiful.  As  you  ride  over  them,  there  are  trees  hang- 
ing over  them,  and  there  are  bushes  on  each  side  :  you  say  it  is 
charming.  Well,  go  out  there  the  next  year.  The  selectmen 
if  it  is  a  town,  the  city  government  if  it  is  a  city,  have  changed 
all  that.  They  have  made  a  straight  line  right  through  it,  and 
widened  the  streets  sixty  feet ;  cut  down  every  tree,  and  made 
it  one  of  the  most  disagreeable  and  painful  spectacles  that  the 
eyes  could  rest  upon.  It  is  their  duty  so  to  do  :  it  is  a  neces- 
sity. And  so  you  go  on  destroying  the  beauties  of  the  city, 
destroying  its  wholesomeness,  destroying  its  charm  ;  and  now 
we  have  got  to  meet  that  tendency,  and  we  have  the  power  to 
meet  it.  We  have  the  intellect,  we  have  the  money,  we  have 
the  will,  and  we  have  the  taste ;  and  we  would  be  incensed  if 
any  one  should  suggest  that  we  do  not.  And  yet  we  have 
allowed  every  city  in  the  United  States  to  get  in  advance  of  us. 
[A  voice,  "  That's  so."]  Chicago  has  three  thousand  acres 
of  parks  ;  Philadelphia,  five  thousand ;  New  York,  one  great 
park  [of  about  one  thousand  acres ;  and  almost  every  city  in 
Europe  has  better,  more  handsome  and  attractive  accommoda- 
tions than  the  city  of  Boston.  I  am  ashamed  to  say  it ;  but  it 
is  so.  I  trust,  however,  gentlemen,  that,  before  I  ever  have  the 
honor  of  addressing  you  again,  we  shall  have  taken  the  first 
step  to  remove  this  odium  from  the  city  of  Boston.  [Applause.] 

Some  six  years  ago,  I  think  it  was,  the  people  got  greatly  in 
earnest  that  this  park  should  be  undertaken.  They  saw  that 
the  progress  of  the  manufactories  was  fast  destroying  the  beau- 
ties of  Boston ;  that  they  were  taking  up  the  land  in  the  suburbs 
apidly :  and,  when  I  said  that  your  green  lands  were  destroyed, 
with  their  beautiful  curved  lines,  I  forgot  to  mention  that  your 
beautiful  sheets  of  water  are  in  the  same  danger.  Why,  look 
at  Fresh  Pond,  look  at  Jamaica  Pond  !  They  are  beautiful 
objects  to  gaze  upon  :  but  when  manufactories  begin  to  surround 


14 


PARES  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


them,  when  there  are  soap  manufactories  and  tanneries,  and  I 
do  not  know  what,  draining  into  the  pond,  the  result  is,  that  the 
water  is  unwholesome,  that  the  fish  die,  the  water  cannot  be 
drunk,  and  then  physicians  begin  to  tell  their  patients,  "  You 
had  better  move  out  of  that  neighborhood."  Are  you  aware, 
gentlemen,  that  that  is  coming  upon  us,  that  we  must  meet  it, 
and  avert  it  ? 

Some  years  ago,  the  people  of  Boston  were  earnestly  in  favor 
of  a  park,  or  system  of  parks.  The  legislature,  for  some  reason 
or  other,  required  that  the  project  should  receive  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  people.  That  was  extraordinary  and  hard.  But 
it  did  receive  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  people  of  Boston 
proper,  and  more  than  two-thirds  ;  but  from  the  accident  of  a 
newly  added  portion  of  the  city,  for  some  reason  or  other,  tak- 
ing a  slant  in  a  certain  direction,  they  voted  very  largely  against 
it,  and  it  fell  through.  We  must  jtake  warning  from  that ;  for 
land  that  would  have  'made  then  a  handsome  park,  which  we 
could  have  had,  we  cannot  have  now  at  all.  It  would  cost 
altogether  too  much  to  much  to  take  dwelling-houses  and  fac- 
tories and  railroad  beds,  if  we  could,  for  a  park. 

Well,  after  six  years  of  restlessness,  at  last  we  went  before 
the  legislature  again ;  and  we  got  an  act  passed,  authorizing  the 
appointing  of  commissioners  with  powers.  That  act  passed, 
helped  by  our  most  able  fellow-citizen,  Mr.  Ropes,  chairman  of 
this  meeting ;  and  it  was  submitted  to  the  votes  of  the  people 
of  Boston ;  and  the  park  project  was  carried  by  the  votes  of  this 
entire  population,  —  Boston,  East  Boston,  Charlestown,  South 
Boston,  Dorchester,  Brighton,  which  make,  all  together,  a  very 
large  and  most  decisive  majority.  And  therefore,  gentlemen,  the 
question  is  not,  Shall  we  have  parks  ?  you  have  decided  that ; 
but  the  question  is,  Whether,  having  determined  to  have  them, 
we  shall  rest  content  with  saying  so  ?  whether  we  will  have 
our  paper  parks,  as  we  have  our  paper  money,  with  nothing  to 
rest  upon  [laughter] ,  or  whether  we  shall  have  genuine  parks, 
with  life  and  trees,  and  have  sheets  of  water  ?  Now  we  are 
here  to-night  to  say  it  is  the  latter  that  we  want.  [Applause.] 

Fellow-citizens,  that  statute  authorized  the  appointment  by 
the  Mayor,  subject  to  approval,  of  three  commissioners.  Well, 


73 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  RICHARD  27.  DANA,  JUN.  15 

that  was  wise.  It  was  not  nine,  seven,  nor  five ;  but  it  was  three. 
Well,  his  Honor  the  Mayor,  who  has  presided  with  so  much 
dignity,  wisdom,  and  integrity  [applause]  over  the  city  of 
Boston  for  two  years,  —  and  we  would  be  glad  to  get  him  for  a 
third  year, if  his  health  would  permit  it  [applause],  —  his  Honor 
the  Mayor  appointed  three  gentlemen  as  commissioners,  in  whom 
this  community  have  entire  confidence.  There  are  no  politics 
among  the  Board  of  Commissioners  ;  there  is  no  jobbery  in  the 
Board  of  Commissioners  ;  and  I  will  venture  to  predict,  gentle- 
men, that,  when  they  finish  there  task,  there  will  be  no  investi- 
gation.   [Great  applause.] 

I  was  amazed  on  looking  over  their  charge.  Why,  I  found 
an  item  of  coach-hire  for  the  whole  period  of  their  service,  nine 
dollars.  Why,  it  would  not  have  been  enough  to  take  three 
common  councilmen  from  Parker's  or  Young's.  [Laughter.] 
But  it  is  all  they  have  charged  ;  and  how,  on  that  sum,  they 
succeeded  in  riding  around  Boston,  I  do  not  know.  Their 
experience  with  persons  who  let  carriages  must  have  been  much 
more  favorable  than  mine  has  been.  But  not  only  have  they 
done  honorably,  economically,  and  frugally,  they  have  put  into 
their  work  an  amount  of  brain -labor,  an  amount  of  patient 
investigation  and  of  good  judgment,  which  no  one  can  have  an 
adequate  opinion  of  who  has  not  read  their  book  ;  but,  if  he  has 
not,  I  hope  he  will.  And  at  least  this  I  may  be  allowed  to  say, 
I  do  not  think  any  citizen  of  Boston  has  the  right  to  object  to 
those  parks,  or  to  be  silent  or  indifferent  on  the  subject,  unless 
he  has  read  the  Report  of  the  Commission,  and  knows  what  is 
proposed,  and  has  been  done.  [Applause.]  They  have  consulted 
the  best  authorities.  They  have  consulted  Mr.  Frederick 
Law  Olmstead,  who  laid  out  Central  Park  in  New  York,  and 
he  is  the  highest  authority  on  the  construction  of  parks  in  the 
country  ;  and  he  has  been  all  over  this  neighborhood,  viewing 
the  localities,  and  they  have  taken  every  thing  into  consideration ; 
and,  gentlemen,  what  is  the  result  ?  They  do  not  propose  to  us 
one  great  park  of  a  thousand  acres,  at  an  almost  unattainable 
distance  ;  they  do  not  propose  a  great  park  that  nobody  can  get 
to,  unless  he  gives  a  day  to  it,  and  a  good  deal  of  money :  but 
they  have  adopted  a  system  based  upon  the  natural  character- 


74 


16  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

istics  of  the  neighborhood  of  Boston.  And  what  better  could 
they  do  ?  At  East  Boston,  they  have  given  them  a  park  upon 
the  water-side,  where  they  will  always  have  the  fresh  breezes 
of  the  sea.  At  South  Boston,  they  have  given  them  a  park  upon 
the  water-side,  one  directly  opposite  Fort  Independence,  and 
then  another  one,  called  the  South  Park,  larger ;  and  Chester 
Park,  which  you  are  all  familiar  with,  is  already  extended,  and 
nearly  ready  to  be  used  as  far  as  Beacon  Street ;  and  thence  it 
is  to  go  over  to  Cambridge,  and  be  the  quickest  means  of  access 
to  the  University.  That  same  avenue  is  to  be  extended  easterly 
till  it  strikes  the  farthest  of  the  South  Boston  parks,  opposite 
Fort  Independence  ;  and,  when  that  is  done,  you  will  be  able  to 
drive  or  walk,  according  to  your  powers  of  walking,  from  the 
park  opposite  Fort  Independence,  into  the  city,  and  across  it,  to 
Harvard  University. 

Now  that  is  a  good  deal ;  but  they  have  taken  another  step. 
They  propose  to  take  the  water-front  of  the  Charles  River  basin ; 
and  there  is  nothing  in  Nature  so  beautiful,  so  well  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  a  city,  as  a  park,  or  boulevard,  or  promenade, 
directly  on  a  water-front,  especially  if  that  water  is  sea- 
water,  —  if  it  is  brought  in  and  carried  out  by  two  daily  tides. 
What  more  beautiful,  what  more  wholesome,  what  more  invigo- 
rating, during  the  hot  season  of  the  year,  than  to  have  an  open 
boulevard,  where  you  can  sit,  or  walk,  or  ride, —  a  place  for 
the  fresh  sea-water  of  the  ocean  brought  in  pure  to  you  every 
da}r !  Well,  they  mean  to  preserve  that,  and  give  us  about 
two  hundred  feet  for  a  driveway,  a  saddle-horse  way  (a  saddle- 
pad,  I  think  they  call  it),  and  footpath,  a  place  for  flowers 
and  trees,  as  it  extends  along  the  water-side,  beginning  by 
Leverett  Street,  and  going  out  as  far  as  Brighton.  Then  from 
there  they  mean  to  take  this  great  Back  Bay,  which  Dr.  Clarke 
properly  called  a  natural  cesspool,  and  keep  a  large  part  of  it 
under  water,  the  ocean  to  be  let  in  arid  let  out  at  our  option,  so 
that  it  can  be  always  kept  pure  ;  and  yet  such  a  quantity  of  it, 
that  it  will  be  a  sort  of  inland  sea,  where  we  can  have  regattas* 
and  where  every  gentleman  may  keep  his  boat,  and  every  boy 
may  keep  his  scull ;  and  perhaps  it  is  just  as  well  a  boy's  skull 
should  be  there  as  anywhere  else  a  large  part  of  the  time. 
[Laughter.] 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  RICHARD  H.  DANA,  JUN. 


7 

17 


Then,  gentlemen,  they  are  going  to  take  Jamaica  Pond, 
and  have  a  park  or  driveway  around  the  pond ;  then  the 
Chestnut  Hill  Reservoir,  that  has  a  parkway  one  hundred  feet 
in  width,  where  you  can  drive  or  walk  at  your  pleasure.  In 
West  Roxbury  they  are  to  have  a  mountain-park,  which  will  be 
the  largest  (about  five  hundred  acres)  ;  and  it  is  well  called  a 
providence,  because  it  is  high,  it  is  rocky,  it  has  a  thoroughly 
sylvan  look,  like  a  forest.  You  would  feel  as  if  you  were  fifty 
miles  from  Boston,  if  you  were  where  you  could  not  see  the 
city.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  beautiful  for  a  park.  There  are 
very  few  houses  there  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  make  it  salable  for 
residences.  But  they  have  selected  this  spot ;  and  they  are 
going  to  give  us  the  best  park  of  the  city,  and  then  have  all 
these  parks  connected  by  parkways,  thus  making  them  so  con- 
venient of  access,  that  every  poor  man  in  Boston  can  take  his 
child  by  his  hand,  and  for  five  cents  a  head  can  be  carried  out 
to  any  one  of  those  parks  by  the  railroads.  [Applause.] 

And,  when  he  gets  there,  he  can  show  this  poor  boy  or  girl, 
who  has  passed  all  the  winter,  and  all  the  opening  spring,  in  an 
alleyway,  —  he  can  show  them,  by  a  wholesome  ascent  of  two 
hundred  feet  only,  slow,  gradual,  one  of  the  noblest  prospects 
in  the  world,  —  the  ocean  pouring  up  into  these  great  bays,  and 
floating  the  great  ships  that  come  and  go,  the  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  and  the  Navy  Yard,  the  University,  and  the  great 
series  of  cities  that  surround  us.  And,  more  than  that,  he  can 
show  him  or  her  Wachuset  Mountain,  and  even  the  top  of 
Mount  Monadnock  in  New  Hampshire. 

Now  I  ask  you,  fellow-citizens,  if  it  is  not  worth  while  for 
the  city  of  Boston  to  improve  these  opportunities.  We  have 
been  most  fortunate  in  our  Commissioners,  —  in  their  wisdom, 
in  their  frugality,  in  their  intelligence,  and  their  public  spirit ; 
and  I  hope,  gentlemen,  you  will  study  their  Report.  It  is  easy 
reading,  pleasant  reading  ;  and  if,  when  you  get  home,  you  find 
your  boy  or  girl  engaged  over  some  novel,  especially  if  it  is  a 
yellow  covered  one,  take  it  right  out  of  his  or  her  hand,  and 
ask  them  to  read  that  Report. 

You  may  think  it  absurd  ;  but,  ten  to  one,  it  will  interest  the 
children  more  than  the  novel  would.    It  will  certainly  give 


76 


IS  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

them  more  valuable  instruction  ;  and  I  venture  to  say  it  will 
interest  them  more.  I  felt  quite  carried  away  by  it.  It  seemed 
to  me  it  must  be  a  fancy  ;  but,  when  I  turned  to  their  accounts 
(and  they  are  all  mercantile  men),  I  was  amazed  to  see  at  what 
small  cost  it  could  all  be  done.  And,  gentlemen,  I  want  to 
detain  you  a  moment  longer  on  statistics,  and  show  that  it  has 
increased  the  value  of  property  in  every  city  that  has  had  a 
park,  by  bringing  houses  all  about  the  parks,  and  by  detaining 
as  inhabitants  of  the  city,  to  be  taxed  in  the  city,  those  men 
who  skulk  in  small  towns  to  throw  the  burden  of  the  expense 
of  their  own  city  on  those  who  stay  behind.  [Applause.]  All 
we  want  to  do  to-night  is  to  say  to  the  city  government  that 
we  are  in  earnest  about  this  matter,  and  that  we  want  the  work 
done  now.  [Applause.] 

I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  it  is  very  doubtful,  if  this  fails,  whether 
you  will  have  another  Board  of  Commissioners  to  compare  with 
the  present.  I  tell  you  it  is  doubtful,  whether  there  will  be  a 
state  of  things  in  Boston  which  will  be  any  thing  like  as  favora- 
ble as  the  state  of  things  we  are  in  now.  But  I  can  tell  you  one 
thing  that  is  certain ;  and  that  is,  if  you  postpone  it,  you  cannot 
have  the  parks  that  they  propose.  The  growth  of  population 
will  be  crowding  over  it ;  speculators  will  buy  it;  the  ponds  will 
become  injured  ;  and  the  expense  will  be  so  great,  that  you  will 
shudder  at  the  thought  of  it.  And,  more  than  that,  the  parks 
that  you  ask  for  in  another  ten  years  will  be  four  or  five  miles 
from  the  centre  of  population  now,  and  I  confess  that  one  great 
argument  with  me  for  instant  action  is,  that  I  want  the  parks  to 
be  as  accessible  as  possible  to  all  those  persons  especially  who 
do  not  own  their  private  carriages,  and  cannot  give  a  day  to 
it.  [Applause.] 

And  last  of  all,  Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  it  should  be 
done  for  economical  reasons,  as  has  been  stated  very  well  by 
the  address  and  in  the  resolutions,  because  there  never  was  a 
time,  and  I  hope  there  never  will  be  a  time  again,  when  the  land 
was  so  cheap  as  it  is  now  ;  and,  when  we  take  this  land  for  parks, 
we  take  it  at  its  present  price.  There  has  not  been  a  time  for 
many  years,  and  I  hope  there  never  will  be  a  time  again,  wThen 
the  price  of  labor  is  as  low  as  it  is  now  [applause]  ;  and  that 


77 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  RICHARD  H.  DANA,  JUJST.  19 

labor  we  would  employ  at  once,  and  the  laborers  are  begging 
for  employment.  Why,  there  is  not  one  of  you  who  has  not 
often  and  often,  within  the  last  two  years,  perhaps  it  is  not 
extravagant  to  say,  felt  his  heart  bleed  when  he  has  been 
stopped  in  the  way  by  evidently  honest  men,  who  would  say, 
"  We  can't  find  any  thing  to  do.  We  have  looked  everywhere ; 
and  there  is  no  work  for  us."  [A  voice,  "  That's  so."]  Yes, 
that  is  so.  Now,  some  philanthropists,  and  some  political  econo- 
mists, have  told  us  that  the  government  ought  always  to  find 
employment  for  everybody ;  it  is  the  duty  of  the  city  to  see  that 
everybody  has  work :  but,  though  I  do  not  advocate  any  such 
doctrine  as  that,  I  advocate  this  doctrine,  —  that  whenever  the 
community  has  any  thing  it  ought  to  do,  and  which  will  employ 
laborers  (and  this  is  a  hard  time  on  the  laborers),  then  is  the 
time  that  they  ought  to  do  it.  [Applause.]  So  that  it  is 
not  only  good  economy,  but  it  is  humanity,  that  dictates  an 
instant  advance  upon  this  work.  To  save  the  land  that  we 
can  get  now  in  a  low  market,  and  to  employ  laborers  who 
are  paid  low  wages,  but  are  glad  to  get  even  that,  and 
to  prevent  the  entire  failure  of  this  scheme  so  carefully  and 
beneficially  made,  we  shall  ask  the  city  government  to  work  at 
once. 

Now,  there  are  others  much  more  able  to  speak  of  the  finances 
of  the  city  government  than  I  am  ;  but  we  always  do  find,  that, 
when  a  thing  ought  to  be  done,  there  is  a  wajr  of  doing  it ;  and 
we  sometimes  find,  that,  when  things  ought  not  to  be  done,  there 
is  a  way  of  doing  them.  I  wish  to  say  one  word  more,  before  I 
take  my  seat,  on  the  report  and  scheme  of  these  Park  Com- 
missioners ;  and  that  is  its  entire  equitableness  in  its  attention  to 
localities.  It  has  left  no  part  of  the  city  that  is  not  benefited. 
Charlestown  cannot  have  a  park,  because  it  is  built  over,  and 
there  is  no  room  for  one.  If  there  was  room,  they  would  have 
one.  They  must  annex ;  and  then  they  can  have  a  park. 
[Laughter.]  East  Boston  has  a  park  ;  South  Boston  has  a  park  ; 
then  comes  the  great  West  Roxbury  Park  ;  then  comes  the  Bus- 
sey  Farm,  which  I  omitted  to  mention  ;  and  then  comes  Jamaica 
Pond  and  Chestnut 'Hill  Reservoir  Park,  and  the  park  roads 
connecting  them  all,  and  uniting  them ;  and  then  the  water-front 


TS 


20  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

on  all  that  part  of  the  city  of  Boston  where  the  water-fronts  are 
not  needed  for  commerce. 

I  say,  therefore,  this  plan  is  equitably  divided  among  the 
citizens  according  to  their  residence  ;  and  it  is  accessible  to  all, 
and  the  plan  is  economical,  and  the  time  is  auspicious.  There- 
fore I  hope  that  you  will  with  unanimity  adopt  the  resolutions, 
and  call  upon  the  city  government  to  proceed  at  once.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

The  President.  Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  "  Hub  of 
the  Universe  ; "  and  you  will  all  understand,  that,  when  any 
thing  is  the  matter  with  that  Hub,  the  diagnosis  must  be  made 
not  only  by  an  able  physician,  but  by  an  able  spokesman. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  you  one  who  combines  both,  and  a  hundred  other  qualities, 
Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  [Applause.] 

SPEECH  OF  DR.  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

You  will  not  ask  for  rhetoric  or  eloquence  in  the  few  remarks 
upon  a  vital  subject  to  be  offered  you  by  a  member  of  the  silent 
profession.  What  could  be  so  eloquent  as  the  hollow  voice 
which  announces  the  Boston  annual  death-rate  as  being  26.18 
against  23.7,  that  of  the  great  paved  nation  of  London ; 
against  19.3,  that  of  Philadelphia ;  and  approaching  that  of  our 
two  unhealthiest  cities,  New  York  and  New  Orleans  ?  This 
high  death-rate  has  been  shown  to  be  largely  due  to  the  exces- 
sive mortality  among  infants  and  children  under  five  years  of 
a<Te.  The  most  fatal  of  the  diseases  which  assail  them  is  that 
destruction  which  wasteth  at  noonday,  to  which  our  American 
practitioners  give  the  name  of  cholera-infantum.  And  this  dis- 
ease prevails  chiefly,  almost  entirely,  from  June  to  October,  the 
season  when  all  out-of-door  influences  are  most  tempting  and 
most  needed.  The  weekly  record  of  August  and  September  is 
that  of  a  pestilence.  The  destroying  angel  carries  off  the  first- 
born, and,  oftener  still,  the  last-born,  out  of  almost  every  house- 
hold in  certain  districts,  as  in  the  heaviest  curse  laid  on  Egypt. 
Thousands  have  fled  the  city,  as  they  deserted  London  in  the 


79 

SPEECH  OF  DR.  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.  21 

season  of  the  plague  ;  but  thousands  are  left  to  follow  in  the 
funeral  procession  of  those  who  were  the  hope  of  their  house- 
holds. 

A  considerable  part  of  this  mortality,  it  may  be  feared,  is 
unavoidable.  Our  climatic  influences  are  permanent  factors, 
and  must  always  count  in  the  bills  of  mortality.  But  there  are 
certain  agencies  which  we  can,  to  a  great  extent,  control.  We 
can  and  do  submit  the  dwellings  of  our  citizens  to  inspection 
and  sanitary  regulation  ;  we  can  and  shall  provide  our  city  with 
proper  drainage  ;  we  can  and  do  inspect  the  food  in  our  market, 
and  condemn  it  if  unfit  for  use  ;  we  can  and  must  secure  for 
our  citizens  the  influences  of  unroofed  and  unwalled  Nature,  — 
air,  light,  space  for  exercise  and  recreation,  the  natural  birth- 
right of  mankind. 

Of  the  uses  of  these  larger  breathing-spaces,  which  we  call 
parks, — for  the  relief  of  the  imprisoned  dwellers  in  crowded 
streets,  for  the  recreation  of  poor  and  rich  alike,  for  the  health  of 
mind  and  body  which  they  offer  to  all,  —  it  seems  almost  need- 
less to  speak  from  the  medical  point  of  view ;  for  all  know  what 
cities  would  be  without  open  areas,  where  children  can  play  in 
the  shade,  and  old  people  warm  themselves  in  the  sun.  I  wish 
to  call  your  attention  to  a  single  point  intimately  connected 
with  the  alarming  fact  of  the  excessive  death-rate  of  which  I 
have  spoken.  That  point  is  the  influence  of  the  air  they  breathe 
on  the  health  of  children,  with  the  bearing  of  this  on  the  ques- 
tion before  us. 

If  a  child  is  found  to  have  been  starved  to  death  in  a  cellar 
or  an  attic,  a  cry  of  horror  is  raised  over  it.  If  two  or  three 
wandering  boys,  as  it  happened  the  other  day  at  Lowell,  come 
upon  some  noxious  roots,  and,  in  obedience  to  their  omnivorous 
instinct,  devour  them,  and  pay  the  forfeit,  the  whole  country 
hears  of  it.  If  a  family  or  two  get  hold  of  some  ill-conditioned 
meat,  and  suffer  for  it,  the  groans  of  their  colics  are  echoed  all 
over  the  land.  If  a  milkman  misrepresents  his  honest  cows  by 
falsifying  their  product,  the  chemist  detects  him,  and  the  press 
puts  him  in  the  pillory.  If  the  Cochituate  or  Mystic  water  is 
too  much  like  an  obsolete  chowder,  up  go  all  noses,  and  out 
come  all  manner  of  newspaper  paragraphs   from  "  Senex," 


so 


22  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

"  Tax-payer,"  and  the  rest.  But  air-poisoning  kills  a  hundred 
where  food-poisoning  kills  one.  Let  me  relate  a  circumstance 
which  happened  in  Ireland,  to  which  circumstance,  in  all 
probability,  I  owe  the  pleasure  of  being  listened  to  at  this 
moment  by  some  among  our  hard-working,  adopted  citizens  who 
are  before  me. 

When  I  say  to  you,  meaning  to  speak  the  words  of  sober 
truth,  that  a  single  physician,  by  a  single  and  simple  measure, 
saved  more  lives  than  were  lost  at  Waterloo  by  the  British 
army  and  all  its  allies,  leaving  out  the  Prussians,  you  will  sus- 
pect me  of  exaggeration,  not  very  uncommon  in  public  speakers. 
I  will  therefore  intrench  myself  behind  certain  details  which  T 
have  often  before  cited,  but  not  in  the  presence  of  a  gathering 
of  this  kind. 

Dr.  Robert  Collins  was  Master,  as  it  is  called,  of  the  great 
Dublin  Lying-in  Hospital,  where  the  annual  rate  of  births 
was  between  two  and  three  thousand,  from  the  year  1826  to 
1833.  A  work  of  his,  containing  the  results  of  his  practice 
during  his  seven  years  of  service,  was  published  in  Boston  in 
1841,  by  order  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  for  the 
use  of  its  members.  I  consider  him  vouched  for  as  authority, 
therefore,  by  men  in  whom  you  can  put  confidence.  Dr.  Col- 
lins makes  the  following  statement :  — 

When  his  predecessor,  Dr.  Joseph  Clarke,  was  in  office,  in 
the  year  1784,  he  found  that  seventeen  children  in  the  hundred, 
nearly  one  in  six,  died  within  the  first  fortnight  after  birth, 
nineteen-twentieths  of  these  of  one  particular  disease  peculiar 
to  very  early  infancy.  Looking  for  the  cause  of  this  frightful 
mortality,  he  thought  he  found  it  in  a  foul  and  vitiated  state 
of  the  air  of  the  hospital.  So  he  had  some  openings  of  con- 
siderable size  made  in  the  ceiling  of  each  ward,  and  three  holes, 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  through  each  window  at  top  :  the  doors, 
too,  were  perforated  with  numerous  holes.  In  this  way,  a  free 
circulation  was  secured,  and  so  arranged,  that  the  nurses  could 
not  control  it ;  for  some  of  the  old-fashioned  nurses  would 
not  have  opened  a  window  in  the  Black  Hole  at  Calcutta,  for 
fear  the  inmates  should  catch  a  cold. 

What  was  the  result  of  this  simple  proceeding?    Why,  the 


81 


f/ 

SPEECH  OF  DR.  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.  23 

mortality  fell,  from  seventeen  in  a  hundred,  clown  to  between  five 
and  six ;  and  Dr.  Collins  gives  us  the  result  np  to  his  time  in 
these  words,  "  Tims,  by  his  valuable  suggestions,  16,371  lives 
have  been  saved,  as,  had  the  mortality  of  infants  continued  one 
in  six  to  this  day  (1833),  the  number  of  children  dying  of  the 
131,227  (which  is  the  total  number  born  in  the  hospital)  would 
be  21,871,  as  the  hospital  registry  now  shows."  In  the  battle 
of  Waterloo,  the  British  and  their  allies  lost  16,186  men  ;  that 
is,  185  less  than  the  great  army  of  very  light  infantry  saved 
from  death  by  letting  out  the  smoke  of  the  battle  of  life,  and 
letting  in  the  sweet  air  of  heaven,  through  the  Avails  of  the 
Dublin  hospital. 

So  much  for  what  air  alone  can  do  for  children.  Now,  it  is 
not  the  "  nine-day  fits "  of  that  hospital  in  its  unventilated 
condition  which  kills  our  poor  children  in  the  hot  months,  but 
that  other  disease  of  infancy,  which  to  name  is  like  sounding 
a  funeral  knell  in  the  ears  of  many  a  parent.  This  one  malady, 
more  than  any  other,  gives  Boston  its  place  on  the  black  list  of 
unhealthy  towns.  All  parents  having  young  children  leave  the 
city  during  the  worst  part  of  the  sickly  season,  if  they  have  the 
means  of  so  doing.  Our  best  streets  look  as  Defoe  tells  us 
London  streets  looked  during  the  Great  Plague.  But  thousands 
of  families  must  remain ;  and  we  are  bound  to  do  what  we  can 
for  them  in  their  dearest  interests,  —  the  lives  of  their  children. 

With  regard  to  cholera-infantum,  —  the  deadly  scourge  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  —  the  testimony  of  experience  shows  that 
change  of  air,  even  temporary,  often  effects  the  cure  of  which 
the  apothecary,  who  "  pestles  a  poisoned  poison  behind  his 
crimson  lights,"  cannot  bring  about  with  his  drugs,  though  the 
wisest  of  physicians  had  written  the  prescription.  This  point 
is  so  important,  and  bears  so  directly,  not  only  on  the  necessity 
of  park-spaces,  but  upon  their  distribution  so  as  to  bring  them 
within  reach  of  all  the  crowded  and  unhealthy  districts  as 
far  as  possible,  that  I  shall  borrow  a  few  sentences,  enforcing 
it,  from  writers  recognized  as  authorities  on  the  diseases  of 
children. 

"  Even  in  cases  in  which  a  removal  to  a  healthy  and  airy 
situation  in  the  country  is  impracticable,"  says  Dr.  Condie  of 


82 


24  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

Philadelphia,  long  and  well  known  by  his  writings,  u  much 
benefit  may  be  derived  from  carrying  the  patient  frequently  into 
the  open  air  in  a  carriage,  or  in  the  arms,  or,  when  its  residence 
is  near  a  large  river,  sailing  it  daily  in  an  open  boat."  And  Dr. 
John  Bell  of  the  same  city  says,  "  The  restorative  effects  of 
fresh  air  in  cholera-infantum  are  strikingly  evinced  in  the  relief 
procured  by  many  hundreds  of  children  every  summer  in  Phila- 
delphia, by  their  simply  crossing  and  recrossing  the  River 
Delaware  in  steamboats  once  or  twice  a  day.  New  life  is 
restored  to  the  little  beings,  who,  on  leaving  their  homes  in  the 
city,  seemed  almost  exanimate,  and  in  the  last  stage  of  incurable 
exhaustion."  Dr.  James  Stewart  of  New  York,  in  his  treatise 
on  the  diseases  of  children,  and  our  own  honored  patriarch  of 
the  profession,  the  late  Dr.  James  Jackson,  in  his  letters  to  a 
young  physician,  speak  in  similar  terms  of  the  great  advantage 
of  change  of  place  and  of  air.  The  "aquatic  jaunts"  recom- 
mended by  Dr.  Stewart,  and  spoken  of  as  so  efficacious  by 
Dr.  Bell,  are  among  the  advantages  to  be  secured  by  the  plan 
proposed  by  our  Park  Commissioners.  I  wish  twenty  tons  of 
little  children  could  be  shipped  every  fine  summer  day  for  a 
good  sail. 

There  is  one  particular  region  which  I  will  mention  as  like  to 
be  specially  benefited  by  the  plan  referred  to, — a  region  which 
would  get  the  advantages  of  the  fresh  air  coming  over  the  wide 
estuary  of  Charles  River  without  the  expense  and  trouble  of 
taking  boats.  The  narrow  and  crowded  streets  of  the  northern 
slope  of  Beacon  Hill,  and  a  wide  region  extending  northward 
from  it,  are  inhabited  by  the  very  class  most  exposed  to  cholera- 
infantum  and  diseases  of  that  nature.  Having  lived  for  many 
years  in  Charles  Street,  where  I  am  no  longer  an  owner,  I  had 
occasion  to  learn  the  incomparable  comfort  and  delight  to  be 
got  in  a  hot  summer's  day,  when  the  wind  is  from  the  south- 
west, by  turning  the  corner  of  Charles  and  Cambridge  Streets, 
and  getting  into  the  current  of  air  cooled  by  passing  over  the 
water.  Some  of  the  poor  mothers  with  sick  children  had  found 
out  where  to  bring  them  for  relief;  and  I  often  thought,  if  there 
were  an  open  green  filling  up  that  corner,  with  shade  trees  and 
seats,  what  a  priceless  sanatorium  it  would  be  to  all  that  suffer- 


83 

I 

SPEECH  OF  DR.  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.  25 

ing  quarter  of  the  city !  The  proposed  green  margin,  beginning 
at  Leverett  Street,  and  extending  along  the  river,  will  meet  this 
very  want ;  and  this  is  only  one  locality  of  many  which  will 
thus  turn  its  natural  advantages  to  account. 

I  have  preferred  to  insist  on  a  single  point  rather  than  to 
expatiate  on  a  larger  number.  But  I  trust  that  the  eloquence 
of  others  will  enforce  and  illustrate  the  innumerable  advan- 
tages our  city  will  derive  from  the  only  chain  she  would  submit 
to,  —  a  chain  of  pleasure-grounds  all  around  her.  The  Bostonian 
has  looked  up  at  the  gilded  dome  of  the  State  House,  and  down 
at  the  reflection  of  his  own  features  in  the  Frog  Pond,  long 
enough.  Our  city  has  always  been  a  centre  ;  and  it  must  not 
act  as  if  it  considered  itself  a  mere  feeder.  We  must  provide 
ourselves  with  the  complete  equipment,  not  of  a  village  com- 
munity, not  of  a  thriving  town,  but  of  a  true  metropolis,  large 
enough  for  a  citizen  of  the  world  to  live  in  without  feeling  him- 
self provincialized,  and  not  too  large  for  one  honest  mayor  like 
our  own  to  handle.  The  marrow-bones  of  the  past  are  pretty  • 
well  cleared  out,  or  will  be  before  the  Centennial  year  is  over, 
and  we  must  not  be  content  to  live  on  them  for  another  century. 
The  Old  Elm  got  enough  of  it,  —  grew  discontented,  and  started 
on  its  travels  for  wider  quarters,  but,  unfortunately,  stumbled 
and  fell.  Let  us  take  the  hint,  and  plant  a  thousand  acres  with 
young  elms  and  all  other  trees  of  the  forest,  where  the  hillsides 
are  not  already  clad  in  foliage  ;  so  that  the  children  of  coming 
generations  may  bless  our  memorv,  not  only  for  all  the  happi- 
ness they  have  had  in  their  shadow,  but  for  saving  more  lives  to 
the  country  than  were  lost  in  any  one  of  the  battles  which 
scarred  and  crippled  their  fathers.  [Applause.] 

The  President.  Gentlemen,  you  have  been  addressed  by 
two  of  the  learned  professions.  It  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  you  will  now  be  addressed  by  one  from  the  third,  the 
most  important  and  most  respected  of  all.  I  am  happy  to  intro- 
duce to  you  the  Rev.  Dr.  Neale,  the  oldest  settled  pastor  of 
the  city  of  Boston.  [Applause,] 


84 


26  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


SPEECH  OF  THE  REV.  ROLLIN  H.  NEALE,  D.D. 

I  do  not  intend,  my  friends,  to  trespass  much  upon  your  time, 
and  certainly  shall  not  presume  to  give  any  new  information  on 
the  subject  which  has  been  presented.  Owing,  probably,  to  my 
long  residence  here,  it  has  been  thought,  I  suppose,  that  my 
testimony,  in  these  days  of  calling  for  witnesses,  may  be  of  some 
importance.  Of  the  financial  bearings  of  this  proposed  enter- 
prise, of  course  I  cannot  judge.  These  are  to  be  considered 
and  acted  upon  by  men  on  whom  the  public  responsibility  rests, 
who  will,  doubtless,  act  considerately  and  wisely ;  but  the 
desirableness  of  the  thing  itself  is  unquestionable.  I  have  had 
opportunity,  with  some  gentlemen  here  present,  of  wandering 
of  a  summer's  day  through  the  beautiful  and  extensive  parks  of 
Europe  and  of  this  country,  and  know  how  welcome  and  refresh- 
ing they  are  to  the  weary  traveller.  "  Boston  Common,*'  of 
course,  we  praise  everywhere  ;  and  when  abroad,  and  thinking 
of  dear  home,  say  there  is  nothing  like  it  . the  world  over. 

It  is  a  good  feature  in  the  character  of  Bostonians  to  love 
their  own  city.  There  is  something  delightful  in  its  old  build- 
ings, and  even  its  crooked  streets.  We  forget  political  and  even 
religious  differences  in  view  of  ancient  landmarks.  We  cling 
to  the  Old  South,  and  would  gladly  have  kept  Brattle  Square 
with  its  cannon-ball,  whatever  might  have  been  thought  of  its 
theology.  We  cherish  the  memoiy  of  our  fathers,  and  wish  to 
keep  among  us,  as  far  as  possible,  signs  of  the  good  old  days. 
This  is  right  and  noble  ;  but  equally  right,  and  quite  as  unself- 
ish, is  it  to  think  of  those  who  shall  come  after  us.  Horace 
Bushnell  was  a  scholar,  and  wrote  many  elaborate  works  on 
metaphysics  and  divinity  ;  but  the  Bushnell  Park  of  Hartford 
will  probably  be  that  for  which  coming  generations  will  thank 
him  most.  Certainly  it  will  keep  his  memory  fragrant  and 
green  forever. 

Our  good  city  is  justly  famous  for  its  hospitals  and  physicians, 
as  well  as  its  churches  and  clergymen.  I  hope  the  contem- 
plated parks  may  not  supersede  the  sanctuary  and  the  sermon, 
though,  as  they  say,  there  are  "sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in 


85 


2f 

SPEECH  OF  THE  REV.  J.  P.  BODFISII.  27 

every  thing."  But  certain  it  is,  that  a  ramble  through  green 
fields  at  any  time,  and  along  sparkling  streams,  is  better  than 
a  sick-bed,  or  the  apothecary's  drugs  and  doses. 

We  are  all  of  us,  I  suppose,  more  or  less  subject  to  the  blues, 
business-men,  clergymen,  and  even  politicians.  In  such  cases,  it 
is  of  no  use  to  shut  .one's  self  up  in  the  house,  and  brood  over 
trouble.  The  best  remedy  is  a  walk,  a  good  long  stretch  into 
the  country,  fresh  air,  a  hearty  laugh  with  some  friend  ;  or  an 
exhilarating  ride,  Brother  Murray  would  say,  probably,  behind 
a  u  perfect  horse."  And  these  are  some  of  the  blessings  it  is 
proposed  to  secure  for  us.  The  very  season  now  here  speaks 
impressively  for  this  enterprise.  The  glories  of  a  June  day,  how 
they  make  us  yearn  for  rural  scenes  !  Nature  everywhere  is 
beckoning.  44  The  mountains  and  the  hills  break  forth  before  us 
into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of  the  field  clap  their  hands." 

The  President.  We  have  listened  with  much  satisfaction 
and  enjoyment  to  the  address  of  one  of  the  clergymen  of  the 
city  of  Boston  :  but  all  denominations  of  the  Christian  Church 
are  included  in  this  call ;  and  I  am  now  happy  to  introduce  to 
you  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bodfish,  Rector  of  the  Catholic  Cathedral 
of  the  Holy  Cross  of  the  city  of  Boston.  [Applause.] 


SPEECH  OF  THE  REV.  J.  P.  BODFISH. 

Mb.  President  and  Gentlemen,  —  I  am  happy  to  stand 
here,  where  so  many  of  my  ancestors  have  stood,  and  to  address 
my  fellow-citizens  on  such  a  measure  of  public  importance. 
When  this  matter  was  first  brought  to  my  attention  through  the 
papers,  when  the  plan  proposed  in  all  its  grandeur  first  came 
before  my  mind,  I  was  reminded  of  a  saying  of  a  musical  friend 
of  mine.  He  belonged  to  a  band.  He  came  from  the  father- 
land ;  and  his  great  specialty  was  to  play  on  the  trombone. 
After  a  while,  it  became  rather  remarkable,  these  solos  on  the 
trombone ;  and  some  of  the  college  boys  wanted  to  put  him 
down  a  little  :  so  they  commenced  by  applauding.  That  seemed 
to  have  no  effect.    So  one  night  they  thought  they  would  try 


SG 


2S  PARKS  FOR.  THE  PEOPLE. 

another  plan.  He  was  playing  his  best  on  the  trombone ;  and 
one  of  the  boys  cried  out,  44  Louder  !  "  And  so  he  began  again 
on  the  trombone  ;  and  the  boys  said,  "  Louder  !  "  And  he  tried 
again  on  the  trombone  ;  and  the  boys  still  cried,  44  Louder !  " 
And  they  still  kept  on,  44  Louder ! "  until  he  almost  burst  every 
blood-vessel.  And  he  put  down  his  instrument  in  disgust  and 
said,  44  It  is  very  well  to  say,  4  Louder  ! '  but  where  is  you  going 
to  get  the  vind  ?  "  [Laughter.] 

Now  when  I  thought  of  this  system,  and  the  immense  expense 
it  would  be,  I  said  to  myself,  Now,  that  is  a  grand  system  ;  it 
would  be  beautiful  indeed  :  but  where  are  you  going  to  get  the 
money?  But  then  I  took  the  Report  of  those  able  Commission- 
ers, this  pamphlet  that  is  spoken  of ;  and  I  read  it  myself  care- 
fully to  see  if  it  was  a  practicable  and  feasible  plan,  and  was 
surprised  to  see  the  ability  with  which  the  whole  matter  had 
been  treated.  So  thorough  had  been  their  investigations,  that 
they  had  demonstrated  it  was  perfectly  clear  that  this  grand 
and  beautiful  system  of  parks  could  be  built  at  this  time,  now, 
with  a  very  slight  taxation  upon  the  whole  business  commu- 
nity ;  and,  furthermore,  that  by  the  improvement  of  property 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  parks,  and  by  the  advantage  to 
the  city  in  general,  the  money  expended  would  soon  return  to 
the  taxpayers  of  the  city ;  and  so  that  objection  is  disposed  of 
at  once. 

There  seems  to  be  no  difficulty.  There  are  so  many  solid 
men  here  in  Boston,  that  a  work  of  this  kind  surely  can  be  car- 
ried out  with  greater  ease  than  it  has  been  in  other  cities  ;  and 
we  know  in  other  cities  they  have  reaped  great  pecuniary  ben- 
efit from  the  establishment  and  building-up  of  their  system  of 
parks.  But  you  would  hardly  expect  a  clergyman  here  to  talk 
on  the  financial  question  :  that  is  a  little  out  of  order.  But  the 
physicians  have  considered  the  medical  point  of  view,  the  sani- 
tary point  of  view,  how  necessary  it  is  to  the  health  of  the 
city  ;  and  the  financiers  have  demonstrated  that  it  is  easy  in  a 
financial  point  of  view;  and  it  would  be  natural  for  me  to 
speak  here  to-night,  perhaps,  on  the  moral  necessity  of  such  a 
system  of  parks. 

Now,  when  I  think  of  the  conditions  under  which  a  great 


87 


SPEECH  OF  THE  REV.  J.  P.  B ODFISH.  29 

many  of  our  poor  people  live,  I  am  not  very  much  surprised 
that  they  are  goaded  into  desperation  to  commit  some  fearful 
crime,  because  we  know  very  well,  where  a  person  lives  in  the 
country,  and  has  the  blue  sky  over  his  head,  and  the  running 
brooks  gurgling  through  the  meadows,  and  the  green  trees  and 
villages,  and  every  thing  cheerful  and  pleasant  about  him,  why, 
he  is  removed  from  a  great  many  temptations  that  are  common  to 
a  large  city;  and  we  know,  that,  in  a  moral  point  of  view, 
the  people  of  a  town  or  of  a  country  district  are  removed  from 
a  great  many  temptations  and  incentives  to  crime :  therefore 
every  one  who  wishes  well  for  the  religious  welfare  of  the 
people  would  be  glad  to  have  these  parks  established  as  a  real 
moral  agent  in  the  community  and  to  the  people  of  this  city. 
And,  as  my  respected  friend  has  suggested,  perhaps  the  people 
would  rather  go  out  in  the  park  than  to  stop  and  hear  our  dull 
sermons.  But  I  would  run  even  that  risk  ;  for  the  Lord's  Day, 
you  know,  is  a  day  of  rest;  and,  after  we  pay  our  homage  to 
our  Creator,  I  think  it  would  be  pleasant  even  to  Him  to  go 
and  take  your  family,  and  take  a  stroll  out  into  these  pleasant 
parks  that  are  proposed  for  your  health.  [Applause.] 

And  then  there  is  another  feature  which  pleases  me  very 
much.  You  know,  in  the  olden  time,  the  lords  and  nobles,  and 
those  who  possessed  the  landed  estates,  they  felt  it  their  duty  to 
provide  for  the  welfare  of  the  laboring  classes,  upon  whom  .they 
depended  really  for  their  riches ;  for  they  tilled  their  lands,  and 
brought  them  in  their  incomes  and  the  returns  from  their  estates  : 
and  so  they  watched  over  them  with  a  kind  of  a  paternal  care  ; 
and,  when  they  were  sick,  they  provided  for  them  hospitals,  and 
they  watched  over  them  as  a  father  would  over  his  family.  Now, 
we  liye  in  a  little  somewhat  different  order  of  society  ;  but  still 
there  remains  the  same  common  duty  for  the  men  of  wealth, 
for  the  men  who  possess  capital,  to  look  out  and  provide  for  the 
wants  and  necessities  of  the  poor,  on  whom  they  depend  to  a 
great  extent ;  for  capital  cannot  be  independent  of  labor.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

Now  I  see  around  me,  I  may  say,  the  nobility  of  this  city. 
They  may  not  have  long,  sounding  titles  ;  but  they  have  the 
wealth,  they  have  the  philanthropy  ;  and  their  presence  here 


30 


PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


to-night  shows  you  that  they  have  those  same  generous  impulses 
toward  the  whole  of  this  city's  population.  They  have  come 
here  as  a  unit :  they  are  willing  to  pay  whatever  is  required  to 
build  this  magnificent  system  of  parks,  that  all  the  people  of 
every  class  may  enjoy  its  benefits.  I  say  they  are  acting  the 
part  of  the  nobles  of  old  ;  and  they  are  taking  care  of  the  people 
of  this  city  as  though  they  had  a  certain  paternal  influence  and 
responsibility  toward  them  [applause],  and  it  rejoices  my  heart. 
And  in  another  point  of  view,  we  know  that  the  safety  of  any 
community  and  society  depends  upon  the  contentment  and 
happiness  of  all  classes  of  its  people.  • 

If  there  is  one  class  that  is  ground  down,  and  unhappy,  and 
living  under  unworthy  conditions,  they  are,  of  course,  immedi- 
ately a  dangerous  element.  I  say  that  it  is  a  matter  of  good 
policy,  as  a  stroke  of  political  economy,  to  provide  for  the  wants 
of  all  classes  of  people  in  this  way,  that  they  may  live  contented 
and  happy,  and  have  every  thing  that  is  necessary  for  the  health 
and  recreation  of  their  families.  [Applause.] 

I  cannot,  of  course,  at  this  late  hour,  delay  you  with  arguments. 
You  have  had  sufficient  already.  That,  as  I  understand  it,  is 
not  the  chief  object  of  our  meeting  here.  The  arguments  are 
at  present  before  the  authorities  in  this  excellent  Report  of  the 
Commissioners. 

We  meet  here  to  encourage  them  to  go  forward,  to  speak  out 
in  such  a  positive  manner,  that  they  can  hesitate  no  longer. 
It  is  our  duty  to  cheer  them  and  encourage  them  in  their 
work,  and  we  hardly  realize  what  an  influence  this  meeting  will 
have  in  encouraging  them  to  the  srreat  and  arduous  work  which 
they  have  undertaken  to  accomplish.  Why,  it  reminds  me  of  a 
little  incident  that  happened  in  Xew  York  not  long  ago,  when 
one  of  those  great  buildings  was  on  fire,  —  those  nine-story  tene- 
ment-houses. When  the  great  crowd  gathered  there  in  the 
night,  and  they  were  surging  there,  the  police  were  trying  to 
keep  order,  and  the  firemen  were  working,  and  the  hot  flames 
shot  up  toward  the  sky,  and  the  black  smoke  rolled  forth,  and 
all  was  din  and  confusion;  and,  in  the  noise  and  tumult  of  that 
dark  and  threatening  ni^ht,  there  was  one  voice  heard.  It  was  a 
mother's  voice  above  the  noise ;  and  she  cried,  "  Save  my  child ! 


SPEECH  OF  COL.  CHARLES  W.  WILDER. 


Will  no  one  save  my  child  ?  "  And  they  would  hush  her  ;  but 
still  she  cried,  44  Oh,  save  ray  child  !  "  And  there  was  one  of  the 
brave  firemen,  when  he  learned  that  a  little  child  was  in  the 
fourth  story  of  that  building,  who  thought  of  his  little  ones  at 
home  ;  and  he  said  he  would  risk  his  life,  he  would  dare  any 
thing,  rather  than  that  child  should  be  lost.  And  they  brought 
the  great  ladders,  and  they  spliced  them  together,  and  they 
swung  them  up  against  the  burning  building  ;  and  he  commenced 
to  ascend.  And,  when  he  was  halfway  up,  he  looked  at  the  hot 
flames  and  the  dense  smoke  rolling  forth,  and  his  heart  trembled 
with  fear  :  it  seemed  to  be  instant  death.  But  some  one  in  the 
crowd  below,  who  knew  the  springs  that  govern  the  human 
heart,  cried,  "  Cheer  him  !  "  "  Cheer  him  !  "  And  there  went  up 
from  that  great  crowd  the  wild  hurrah,  and  it  cheered  his  heart 
like  an  electric  thrill ;  and  he  rushed  on,  and  disappeared  in  the 
smoke.  All  was  suspense  ;  they  waited  with  breathless  anxiety  : 
and  at  last  he  returned  with  the  child,  and  placed  it  in  its 
mother's  arms.  [Tremendous  applause.]  So  you  see  the  power 
of  a  word  of  encouragement  and  cheer  when  any  one  has  ardu- 
ous work  before  him  ;  and  that  is  our  duty  here  to-night,  my 
fellow-citizens,  —  to  speak  out  with  one  voice,  and  determined 
voice,  and  to  cheer  those  who  have  undertaken  this  work,  and 
to  let  them  know  that  we  are  ready  to  support  them,  that  now 
is  the  time,  and  that  we  are  determined  that  this  great  work 
shall  be  accomplished.    [Applause  and  cheers.] 

The  President.  I  shall  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introdu- 
cing to  the  audience  Col.  Charles  W.  Wilder.  [Applause.] 


SPEECH  OF  COL.  CHARLES  W.  WILDER. 

This  large  gathering  of  our  citizens  in  Faneuil  Hall  is  for 
some  purpose  :  it  is  significant  that  the  people  want  something. 
I  do  not  understand  that  it  is  in  any  sense  to  re-affirm  their  con- 
viction that  their  best  interests  will  be  served  by  adding  to  our 
public  property  a  park  or  parks.  That  question  has  been  fully 
discussed  and  decided  by  the  people  themselves  for  themselves : 


90 


32  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

they  settled  that  by  their,  with  remarkable  unanimity,  voting 
to  accept  the  act  of  the  legislature,  giving  power  to  the  city 
government  to  purchase  or  take  land  for  that  purpose.  All 
classes  seem  to  agree  upon  the  necessity.    The  entire  medical 
faculty  with  one  voice  say  we  want  it  for  sanitary  reasons,  and 
have  joined  in  the  general  petitions.    Our  capitalists  and  mer- 
chants have  spoken  for  themselves  unmistakably  by  their  peti- 
tions to  the  city  government,  bearing  more  than  seven  thousand 
names,  and  representing,  I  am  informed,  more  than  two  hundred 
millions  of  taxable  property.    An  able  Commission,  after  a  year 
of  careful  study,  and  diligent  devotion  to  their  duty,  have  made 
their  report.    The  people  have  examined,  discussed,  criticised, 
and  finally  approved  and  accepted  it,  and  now  come  here  in  Fan- 
euil  Hall  to  speak  direct  to  City  Hall  for  its  adoption.  Mr. 
President,  our  professional  men,  our  merchants  and  capitalists, 
have  spoken  for  themselves  by  their  petitions  and  voices  here  to- 
night.   It  remains  only  for  me  to  speak  for  the  more  numerous 
class  of  our  fellow-citizens  who  pay  but  two  dollars  poll-tax. 
Yet  they  are  as  good  citizens,  have  and  feel  as  deep  interest  in  the 
growth,  prosperity,  and  progress  of  our  city,  as  their  more  fortu- 
nate neighbors  ;  and  in  the  name  and  behalf  of  the  mechanics,  the 
laborers,  the  great  mass  of  men  that  build  our  cities,  and  whose 
labor  contributes  so  much  to  our  growth  and  prosperity,  and 
whose  employment  is  the  one  thing  more  than  any  other  needed 
to-day  to  inaugurate  the  beginning  of  our  old-time  prosperity, 
I  appeal  to  our  city  government  to  complete  the  work  so 
opportunely  and  well  begun.    It  is  immediate  action  we  ask 
for. 

There  being  no  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  necessity  and 
utility  of  parks,  and  their  ultimate  payment  for  their  full  cost, 
the  only  open  question  is  the  time  to  begin.  We  say  that  time 
is  now, — now,  while  thousands  of  unwillingly  idle  hands  are 
waiting  for  work,  and  money  is  cheap  ;  cheap,  because  labor  is 
unemployed.  We  say  to  you,  gentlemen  of  the  city  govern- 
ment, respectfully  but  earnestly,  Act  upon  this  matter  now. 

Don't  wait  till  your  summer  vacation  ;  don't  wait  till  next 
month  ;  don't  let  any  personal  matter  intervene  to  prevent  the 
performance  of  this  public  duty  the  people  now  ask  at  your 


SPEECH  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  F.  PAUL. 


V 

S3 


hands.  The  present  truly  great  debt  of  our  city,  the  bulk  of 
which  has  been  created  in  improvements,  made  enormously  more 
costly  by  the  failure  of  city  governments  in  past  times  to  com- 
prehend the  wants  of  a  growing  metropolis,  admonishes  you  to 
act  now,  and  secure  the  advantages  the  present  favorable  com- 
bination of  circumstances  offers.  We  confer  on  you  the  power 
to  spend  our  money  for  the  public  good ;  and  we  ask  you  to  act 
now,  because  we  clearly  see  that  delay  means  largely  increased 
cost  for  what  we  must  have  in  the  near  future. 

The  President.  The  Act  under  which  this  Commission  was 
appointed,  and  has  discharged  its  duty,  was  supported,  I  think, 
by  nearly  every  member  of  the  Boston  delegation ;  and  I  may 
be  allowed  a  single  moment  to  add  a  tribute  of  respect  to  that 
delegation.  Boston  has  been  well  represented,  with  one  excep- 
tion, perhaps,  during  the  last  two  years,  in  the  State  legislature  ; 
and  I  am  very  happy  to  know  that  you  are  now  to  be  addressed 
by  a  member  of  that  delegation,  who,  as  I  said,  supported  this 
Act  when  it  was  passed ;  who  did  not  always  vote  with  me  on 
every  occasion,  but  who  never  voted  against  his  conscience, 
never  supported  any  thing  dishonest,  or  unjust,  or  unfair  ;  and 
who  will  stand  up,  I  have  no  doubt,  to-night,  and  speak  well  his 
mind,  as  he  did  on  every  fit  occasion  in  the  State  House,  for 
what  he  deems  just  and  right,  and  for  the  good  of  the  people  : 
Mr.  Joseph  F.  Paul,  whom  I  am  very  happy  to  introduce  to 
you.  [Applause.] 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  F.  PAUL. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen-,  —  I  hardly  know  what 
reply  to  make  to  the  remarks  of  the  gentleman  who  has  just 
taken  his  seat.  In  fact,  I  think  I  had  better  let  them  go,  and 
allow  you  to  judge  for  yourselves  after  I  have  said  what  I  pro- 
pose to  say.  I  may  say,  in  the  first  place,  that  this  is  my  first 
appearance  upon  this  stand  as  a  speaker;  and,  when  called 
upon  to  speak  after  such  gentlemen  as  you  have  listened  to 
to-night,  I  trust  you  will  make  all  due  allowance  for  any 
mistakes  that  I  may  make.    But  I  claim  the  right  as  a  citizen 


92 


34  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

of  Boston,  as  a  tax-payer  of  Boston,  to  express  my  opinion 
upon  this  subject,  as  upon  all  others  in  which  I  take  an 
interest.  The  necessity  of  parks  has  been  made  apparent  to 
every  gentleman  here  by  those  who  are  better  qualified  than 
I  am  to  do  so.  I  believe  that  there  is  no  man  here  who 
does  not  believe  that  we  are  to  have  parks.  I  have  not 
heard  from  such ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  such  a 
man,  unless  it  is  one  who  does  not  expect  to  enjoy  them 
himself,  and  is  unwilling  that  posterity  should. 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  that  question  is  settled,  the  only 
question  which  seems  to  be  before  the  people  is,  whether  this  is 
the  proper  time  ;  and  I  propose  to  address  myself  to  the  consid- 
eration of  that  question.  I  propose  to  speak  of  it  as  of  a  private 
enterprise,  and  as  an  individual  business-man.  It  has  been  ex- 
plained to  you  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  labor-market,  and  I 
think  that  I  may  say  fairly  and  squarely  that  labor  of  the  character 
to  be  used  about  parks  has  not  been  so  cheap  for  twenty  years. 
Money  is  cheap ;  labor  is  required  ;  parks  are  wanted  ;  and  it  is 
better  to  keep  the  men  at  work,  and  retain  them  in  the  city, 
than  to  sustain  them  and  their  families  at  the  public  cost.  It  is 
not  like  sending  out  of  the  -country  to  import  something  for 
which  we  must  pay  our  money.  All  the  money  is  to  be  paid  to 
our  own  citizens ;  and,  unless  some  show  of  enterprise  is  made, 
we  shall  lose  business-men  from  this  city.  They  will  not  stay 
here,  and  do  nothing,  unless  the  city  government  makes  some 
show  of  enterprise.  I  have  had  some  experience  myself  in  the 
city  government,  having  been  a  member  of  it,  whether  that  is 
an  honor  or  not ;  though  I  hold  that  the  honor  or  dishonor  of 
any  society  depends  upon  one's  own  conduct.  There  is  always 
some  doubt  about  making  a  move  in  the  city  government ;  and, 
in  a  matter  like  the  park  question,  such  a  meeting  as  this  will 
be  a  great  encouragement  to  action.  The  public  feeling  on  this 
question  is  so  great,  that  the  parks  must  be  established.  The 
project  has  been  fought  no  harder  than  the  Water  Board  was ; 
and  where  would  the  city  of  Boston  be,  if  the  friends  of  that 
enterprise  had  not  succeeded  ?  Act  here  to-night,  and  then  let 
the  city  government  do  its  part.  Objections  may  be  made  by 
some  gentlemen,  made  conscientiously ;  but,  five  years  from 


93 


1* 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  F.  PAUL.  35 

now,  these  gentlemen  will  not  remember  that  they  raised  any 
objection. 

This  meeting  is  called  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  city 
government  to  understand  that  the  business-men,  the  working- 
men,  of  the  city,  mean  what  they  say,  when  they  say  that  they 
want  public  parks ;  and  there  is  no  question  that  an  impulse 
will  be  given  to  the  action  of  the  city  government  by  this 
meeting.  We  are  the  city  of  Boston ;  and  the  members  of  the 
city  government  act  for  us. 

Gentlemen,  it  is  getting  late,  and  there  are  those  to  follow 
who  will  entertain  you  better  than  I  can.  But  I  propose  to 
close  with  a  little  story  which  I  heard ;  and  it  was  in  church 
that  I  heard  it,  in  an  excellent  sermon.  Just  after  the  war  of 
1812,  our  laboring  men  stood,  as  they  stand  to-day,  idling  about 
the  wharves  and  public  places.  That  was  the  case  in  a  little 
town  to  the  east  of  Boston.  They  had  enterprising  men,  as  we 
have  now  ;  and  one  day  a  gentleman  stepped  into  a  bank,  and 
said  to  the  president,  "  Mr.  President,  I  am  going  to  build  a 
ship.*' —  "  What  do  you  know  about  shipbuilding?"  asked  the 
president.  '*  Nothing.  But  I  can  do  the  business  ;  and  there 
are  men  here  who  can  do  the  work.  We  have  the  money,  and 
there  are  the  men.  I  will  build  the  ship,  and  sell  it ;  you  will 
get  your  money  back ;  and  the  profit  will  be  divided  among  the 
men.'.'  The  idea  was  a  novel  one  ;  but  the  president  wanted  to 
set  the  wheels  of  business  in  motion ;  and  so  he  said  that  he 
would  give  an  answer  the  next  day.  The  gentleman  called 
promptly  the  next  morning  ;  and  the  president  informed  him 
that  the  directors  had  agreed  to  advance  the  money.  The  gen- 
tleman then  went  out  among  the  idle  men,  and  said,  "  I  am  going 
to  build  a  ship,  and  I  want  you  to  do  the  work.  I  will  pay 
you  enough  to  live  on  ;  .and,  when  the  ship  is  built,  we  will 
divide  the  profit."  So  they  went  to  work  as  co-partners,  and 
built  the  ship,  this  gentleman  generously  attending  to  the  busi- 
ness. The  ship  was  built  and  launched  and  sold,  the  money 
was  paid  to  the  bank,  and  the  profits  divided.  That  was  the 
first  ship  built  on  the  Merrimack  in  Newburyport,  which  has 
since  become  one  of  the  largest  shipbuilding  places  in  Massa- 
chusetts. 


94 


36  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

So  we  want  something  to  set  the  wheels  in  motion.  The  city 
of  Boston  can  borrow  the  money,  and  buy  the  land,  for  these 
parks,  more  cheaply  now  than  ever  again ;  and  the  men  are  ready 
to  do  the  work.  I  know  of  nothing  more  that  I  can  say.  I  am 
glad  to  see  this  hall  filled  to-night.  There  are  men  here  to- 
night who  have  at  heart  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  the 
city  of  Boston.  That  is  what  we  are  acting  for  ;  and  I  trust 
that  that  hundred  men  will  go  up  to  City  Hall,  and,  if  the 
city  government  will  move  in  the  matter,  every  true  man  will 
deem  it  his  duty  to  stand  behind  and  encourage  them. 

The  President.  My  friends,  the  best  things  and  the  most 
enthusiastic  meetings  must  come  to  an  end;  but  those  who  wait 
till  the  last  generally  get  the  best.  I  have  now  the  pleasure 
of  introducing  to  you  the  closing  speaker,  the  Hon.  P.  A. 
Collins. 

SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  P.  A.  COLLINS. 

I  know  that  no  word  of  mine  can  add  to  the  force  of  this 
movement.  I  am  neither  great  tax-payer  nor  eminent  sanitarist. 
I  cannot  hope  to  equal  others  who  have  discussed  the  moral, 
aesthetic,  sanitary,  and  economic  phases  of  the  question  before 
us.  But,  happily,  there  is  no  need  of  such  discussion  now.  The 
question  of  public  parks  has  been  submitted,  in  all  its  forms 
and  probable  effects,  to  the  ablest,  keenest,  wisest,  of  our  citizens  ; 
and  there  is  but  one  answer.  The  answer  is,  that  we  need 
more  out-door  life  than  our  sedentary  race  enjoys,  and  that 
public  grounds,  accessible  to  all,  are  not  only  desirable,  but 
necessary  to  the  moral  and  physical  health  of  our  crowded  pop- 
ulation. 

This  is  the  verdict ;  and,  granted  this,  there  remain  but  two 
questions,  —  "  Is  this  the  time?"  "  Can  we  afford  it?'?  To 
some,  the  present  is  never  the  time  for  any  thing.  Their  motto 
seems  to  be,  "  Don't  do  to-day  what  you  can  put  off  till  to- 
morrow, because  you  may  not  live  till  to-morrow,  and  then  you 
won't  have  to  do  it  at  all/'  This  principle  has  been  acted  upon 
by  short-sighted  Boston  too  long  ;  and  the  result  is  a  melan- 


95 


SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  P.  A.  COLLINS.  37 

choh*  looking-back  to  the  time  when  improvements  could  have 
been  made  for  a  tenth  or  a  fifteenth  of  the  present  cost.  We 
are  told  of  our  beautiful  suburbs,  as  if  they  can  be  suburbs 
forever.  Even  now,  they  are  but  for  the  rich.  Beware  of 
trespassing  in  the  fields  and  woods :  they  are  private  property. 
The  roads  seem  to  belong  to  blood-horses  and  their  owners. 
If  you  wish  to  know  the  future,  look  at  the  past.  Look  back, . 
you  aged  men,  to  the  fields  and  gardens  of  Tremont  and  Boyl- 
ston  Streets.  Look  back,  you  younger  men,  to  rambles  through 
South  Boston  farms,  and  land  at  "  South  End  "  sold  by  the 
acre.  Always  comes  the  old  conservative  admonition,  "  Wait !  " 
—  yes,  wait  till  the  great  sea-wall  makes  City  Point  of  Castle 
Island,  —  wait  till  the  now  extended  arms  of  Boston  clasp 
Brookline  to  the  bosom  of  the  metropolis,  —  wait  till  private 
avarice  and  easy  legislation,  acting  intermittently,  deface  the 
shore  and  basin  of  Charles  River,  —  wait  till  the  dense  and  ever 
growing  population,  bursting  from  its  narrow  bounds,  spreads 
itself  in  streets  laid  out  at  random,  over  what  you  are  pleased 
to  call  our  suburbs,  —  wait,  in  short,  till  the  inevitable  happens, 
and  where  are  your  public  parks  ?  You  may  have  them,  even 
then,  I  grant  you  ;  but  you  will  have  them  where  the  people 
cannot  reach  them,  and  where  the  cost  will  be  too  great. 
Remember  that  our  city  growth  is  like  the  growth  of  all  cities 
in  the  New  World  and  the  Old ;  and,  if  we  want  green  places 
in  the  future  Boston,  we  must  seize  them  now. 

Can  we  afford  the  expense  ?  Rather,  let  us  ask,  Can  Boston 
afford  to  be  less  comfortable  to  live  in,  less  attractive,  less 
healthy,  than  sister  cities  ?  We  can  afford  police,  paved  streets, 
light,  sewers,  scavengers,  a  fire  department,  a  board  of  health, 
and  a  score  of  other  agencies,  not  because  they  give  salaries  and 
employment  totcertain  men,  but  because  the  public  health  and 
safety  require  it ;  we  can  afford  schools,  maintained  at  enormous 
cost,  though  it  may  be  conceded  that  we  could  live  without 
education  ;  we  can  afford  pure  water  in  abundance,  be  the 
expense  never  so  great,  because  we  need  it :  and,  if  we  need 
pure  air,  we  can  afford  to  pay  for  it,  to  seize  the  means  of  hav- 
ing it,  and  keeping  it  forever. 

And  suffer  me,  with  due  modesty,  to  say,  that  we  in  this 


<)(', 


38  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

meeting  —  representing  as  we  do  the  commerce,  industries,  and 
professions  of  this  goodly  town  —  have  a  right  to  demand  that 
what  we  ask  shall  be  given  us,  and  that  Boston  shall  take  and 
hold  for  the  use  of  its  people  this  needed  reservation,  while  yet 
there  is  time.  I  trust  our  city  fathers  will  need  no  further 
admonition  than  this  meeting  gives;  but,  if  they  should,  we  are 
enlisted  for  the  war. 

As  Cromwell,  grimly  looking  down  on  the  fair  fields  and 
shining  streams  of  the  land  he  came  to  conquer,  said,  44  This  is 
a  land  worth  fighting  for,"  so  let  us,  as  we  survey  the  magnifi- 
cent area  of  shore  and  hill  and  glade  which  fortune  now  permits 
us  to  dedicate  to  public  use,  exclaim,  44  This,  indeed,  is  worth 
our  effort ;  "  and  let  us  strive  for  it  till  the  battle  is  won. 

The  President.  I  have  been  requested  to  state  that  the 
well-known  physician,  Dr.  Edward  H.  Clarke,  who  is  too  ill 
to  be  present  here  to-night,  has  written  a  long  and  interesting 
letter  on  the  subject  of  this  meeting,  which  will  be  published  in 
the  morning  papers ;  and  I  desire  that  every  citizen  present  will 
make  a  point  of  reading  that  letter. 


LETTER  OF  DR.  EDWARD  H.  CLARKE. 

Hamilton  A.  Hill,  Esq.,  Secretary,  &c. 

Dear  Sir, —  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
your  note  of  the  2d  inst.,  requesting  me,  in  the  name  of  the 
committee  who  have  called  a  public  meeting  on  the  park  ques- 
tion, to  address  to  them  a  letter  which  shall  contain  my  views 
upon  44  the  necessity  existing  at  the  present  time  for  action  on 
this  subject,  and  upon  the  Report  of  the  Park  Commissioners." 

If  my  views  are  of  any  value  to  the  community  on  this  ques- 
tion, or  if  I  could  exert  any  influence,  however  little,  in  bringing 
about  a  result  so  necessary  to  the  comfort,  prosperity,  and  health 
of  all  the  citizens  of  Boston,  as  the  establishment  of  a  public 
park  within  the  limits  of  the  city,  I  should  esteem  it  not  less 
a  privilege  than  a  duty  to  present  those  views,  and  exert  that 
influence. 


97 


n 

LETTER  OF  DR.  EDWARD  H.  CLARKE.  39 

Among  the  many  and  weighty  considerations  that  might  be 
appropriately  urged  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  a  park  in 
this  city,  three  stand  ont  so  prominently,  that  their  importance 
can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  These  are,  first,  the  sanitary, 
second,  the  educational,  and,  third,  the  economic  aspects  of  the 
question.  Let  me  call  your  attention  briefly  to  these  three 
points. 

The  first  is  the  sanitary  aspect  of  the  park.  The  discussion 
of  sewerage  and  drainage,  and  of  the  ventilation  of  sewers, 
drains,  and  houses,  with  which  our  community  have  latterly 
been  made  familiar,  has  impressed  upon  our  citizens,  to  some 
extent,  the  importance  of  introducing  pure  air  into  our  houses, 
and  of  keeping  foul  air  out  of  them.  The  importance  of  such 
ventilation  cannot  be  overstated.  But  we  are  in  danger  of 
forgetting  that  the  importance  of  ventilating  a  city  is  as  great 
as  that  of  ventilating  all  the  houses  in  it,  with  this  difference, 
that  if  a  city  is  not  well  ventilated,  so  as  to  bring  fresh  air  into 
it,  and  to  keep  foul  air  and  poisonous  gases  out  of  it,  the  ven- 
tilation of  individual  dwellings  will  be  of  little  avail. 

The  foul  air  of  the  streets  will  not  only  envelop  those  who 
pass  through  them,  but  will  penetrate  the  houses  that  line  them, 
visiting  alike  the  sick  and  the  well,  increasing  the  danger  of 
disease  to  the  former,  and  diminishing  the  health  and  strength 
of  the  latter.  In  proportion  as  a  city  increases  in  size,  large 
open  spaces  should  be  reserved.  Parks  are  the  lungs  of  the 
city.  They  are  more  than  this  :  they  are  reservoirs  of  oxygen 
and  fresh  air.  They  produce  atmospheric  currents,  which  sweep 
through  and  purify  the  streets.  Parks  not  only  offer  oxygen  to 
all  who  visit  them,  but  distribute  a  large  amount  of  this  prime 
necessity  of  life  everywhere  in  their  neighborhood.  Without  open 
spaces  appropriately  placed,  it  is  impossible,  in  a  large  city,  to 
have  well  ventilated  streets,  and  to  keep  the  air  of  the  houses 
sweet  and  clean.  Let  us  remember,  moreover,  that  bad  venti- 
lation means*  poisoned  air,  and  that  poisoned  air  is  sure  to  be 
followed  by  a  ghastly  train  of  diseases,  with  an  occasional  pes- 
tilence to  remind  the  inhabitants  what  a  terrible  thing  it  is  to 
disregard  sanitary  laws. 

Improved  ventilation  is  by  no  means  the  only  sanitary  good 


98 


40  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

that  parks  yield  to  a  city  wise  enough  to  possess  them.  A  frac- 
tion, and  only  a  small  fraction,  of  our  population,  are  able  to 
leave  the  city  during  the  hot  months  of  the  year,  for  the  country. 
When  these  favored  ones  reach  Nahant,  Swampscott,  or  New- 
port, or  some  modest  farmhouse,  or  comfortable  dwelling  by 
the  side  of  the  many  railroads  that  lead  from  the  foulness  of  the 
city  to  the  purity  of  the  country,  or  of  the  mountains,  how 
gladly  and  enthusiastically  they  speak  of  their  escape  from 
heat,  discomfort,  and  disease,  to  coolness,  comfort,  and  health  ! 
But  the  mass  of  the  community,  —  the  artisans  and  work-people, 
whose  necessities  compel  them  to  remain  within  the  limits  of 
the  city,  —  their  families,  children,  sick  ones  and  all,  have  at 
present  no  such  escape  from  close  and  impure  air. 

The  carrying  of  little  children  who  are  pinched  by  cholera- 
infantum,  or  spotted  by  scarlet-fever,  or  of  those  who  are  para- 
lyzed by  diphtheria,  or  distorted  by  scrofula,  or  emaciated  by 
consumption,  for  a  few  hours  a  day  into  the  pure  air  and  bright 
sunlight  of  an  open  square,  has  saved  many  a  life.    Many  a 
needless  death  has  occurred,  because  the  city  afforded  no  such 
opportunity  for  escape.    A  few  hours'  exposure  of  a  child  on  a 
mother's  lap,  or  in  a  basket  or  carriage,  to  the  freshness  of  a 
park,  will  produce  a  sleep  that  never  follows  opium,  chloral,  or 
ether,  and  will  yield  a  chance  for  health  that  no  drug  can  give. 
For  the  last  few  years,  Philadelphia  has  shown  a  diminished 
death-rate.    Dr.  William  Peppee,  who  has  lately  investigated 
the  sanitary  condition  of  that  city,  commenting  upon  the  grati- 
fying fact  just  stated,  says,  "  While  thus  showing  an  average 
rate  of  mortality  more  favorable  than  that  found  in  any  other 
city  containing  over   500,000   inhabitants,   Philadelphia  has 
recently  (1874)  attained  a  degree  of  healthfulness  almost  un- 
paralleled;  namely,  with  a  population  at  that  time  of  775,000, 
the  number  of  deaths  was  but  14,966,  giving  a  death-rate  of  only 
19.3  per  thousand.    These  very  favorable  results  are  largely  due 
to  the  abundant  and  cheap  water-supply,  and  to  the  opportu- 
nities given,  even  to  the  poorest  citizens,  for  the  enjoyment  of 
pure  country  air  in  the  great  Fairmount  Park,  which  contains 
^,991  acres.    The  extent  to  which  this  is  valued  by  the  citizens 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that,  during  the  year  1875,  the 


5)9 


ff 

LETTER  OF  DR.  EDWARD  B,  CLARKE.  41 

park  was  visited  by  over  eleven  million  persons."  There  is  no 
reason  why  a  park  in  Boston  should  not  yield  as  good  a  sanitary 
result  as  one  in  Philadelphia. 

While  looking  at  the  sanitary  aspects  of  this  subject,  let  us 
not  forget  that  a  park  laid  out  in  accordance  with  the  plan  of 
the  Park  Commissioners  will  utilize  localities  that  would  other- 
wise become  plague-spots,  and  nurseries  of  disease.  The  low 
lands  along  the  banks  of  Charles  River,  portions  of  the  Back 
Bay,  and  other  sections  that  might  be  mentioned,  are  sure  to 
become  unhealthy  localities, — stations  for  distributing  the 
germs  of  disease  throughout  their  neighborhood  and  at  a  dis- 
tance from  them,  — unless  they  are  reserved,  and  left  unoccupied. 
The  most  extravagant  way  of  disposing  of  such  localities  is  for 
the  city  to  permit  them  to  be  built  over,  "  improved  "  is  the  phrase, 
I  believe,  and  then  suffer  the  consequences,  in  the  way  of  increase 
of  disease  and  taxes,  which  follow  such  sort  of  improvements. 

Let  us  now  pass  from  the  sanitary  to  the  educational  aspect 
of  our  subject.  The  educational  value  of  a  park  to  the  com- 
munity of  a  large  city  is  second  only  to  its  sanitary  value.  We 
are  too  apt  to  think  that  education  is  the  exclusive  function  of 
the  school,  and  that  books  and  school-teachers  are  the  only 
educators.  This  is  a  grievous  mistake.  The  education  of  the 
home  and  street,  of  the  workshop  and  store,  of  the  church  and 
theatre,  of  the  base-ball  club  and  the  evening  party,  of  the  rum- 
shop  and  dance-hall,  and  of  the  numerous  other  influences  of  a 
great  city,  is  more  potent  than  that  of  the  school.  The  evil  of 
all  evil  agencies  is  intensified,  and  the  good  of  the  good  ones 
diminished,  by  uncleanness  and  impure  air.  Clean  hands  and 
a  pure  heart  go  together.  Foul  air  prompts  to  vice,  and  oxygen 
to  virtue,  as  surely  as  sunlight  paints  the  flowers,  and  ripens  the 
fruits,  of  our  gardens.  The  tired  workman,  who,  after  a  day's 
labor,  needs  the  repose  and  relaxation  of  home,  is  apt  to  be 
driven  from  it  by  the  close  atmosphere  of  the  street  and  house 
in  which  he  lives.  He  would,  if  he  could,  get  into  the  fresh 
air  of  the  country  ;  but,  as  he  cannot  do  this,  he  seeks  the  relief 
which  drink  or  other  excitement  yields.  If  there  were  a  park 
accessible  to  him,  he  with  his  family  would  seek  it  as  instinc- 
tively as  a  plant  stretches  towards  the  light.    The  varied  op- 


100 


42  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

portunities  of  a  park  would  educate  him  and  his  family  into  the 
enjoyment  of  innocent  amusements  and  open-air  pleasures. 
Deprived  of  these,  he  and  his  are  educated  into  the  ways  of 
disease  and  vice  by  the  character  of  their  surroundings.  Who 
that  has  watched  the  groups  of  families,  neighbors,  and  friends, 
that  bivouac  by  hundreds  and  thousands  on  the  parks  which 
cluster  around,  adorn,  and  invigorate  the  great  cities  of 
Europe,  can  have  failed  to  notice  the  innocent  amusements  and 
enjoyment  of  these  crowds  of  young  and  old,  or  to  be  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  the  influence  of  the  natural  scenes  around 
them,  of  the  trees  and  plants  and  flowers,  of  the  pure  air  and 
bright  skies,  is  a  humanizing  and  elevating  one?  It  is  difficult 
to  compute  the  value  of  such  an  influence  in  dollars  and  cents, 
or  to  measure  it  by  any  scale  that  the  market  acknowledges ; 
but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  real,  substantial,  and  potent  one.  If 
our  large  cities  are  the  pride  and  boast  of  the  republic,  they 
also  contain  the  greatest  elements  of  danger  to  the  state  and 
the  nation.  Ignorance  and  vice,  disease  and  crime,  crowd  them- 
selves into  cities.  There  they  find  their  best  hiding-places, 
their  surest  protection,  and  their  most  defenceless  victims.  It 
makes  one  tremble  to  think  of  the  thousands  of  youth  in  our 
cities  whom  the  school  and  the  church  do  not  reach,  and  who 
are  moulded  by  these  influences  into  the  worst  and  lowest  forms 
of  humanity.  They  can  not  and  wTill  not  go  out  into  the  country 
themselves,  except  upon  some  errand  of  violence  and  crime. 
The  city  should  therefore  bring  the  country  to  them,  and  give 
them  a  chance,  at  least,  to  experience  its  humanizing  and  blessed 
influence. 

A  park,  or  a  series  of  parks,  with  its  trees  and  running 
waters,  its  grass  and  plants  and  flowers,  its  variegated  surface 
and  changing  views,  and  all  the  beauty  with  which  such  scenes 
are  flooded,  supplements  the  labor  of  the  church  and  school  in 
educating,  refining,  and  elevating  the  community.  There  will 
be  less  gambling,  drinking,  and  quarrelling  in  Boston,  when  the 
mass  of  its  inhabitants  shall  be  allowed  to  partake  of  the  bless- 
ing and  beauty  of  a  public  park. 

These  considerations  naturally  bring  us  to  the  third  point 
which  has  been  mentioned,  viz.,  the  economic  aspect  of  the 


101 


/Of 

LETTER  OF  DR.  EDWARD  H.  CLARKE.  43 

matter.  Few  will  deny  the  truth  of  the  above  statements  ;  but 
the  admission  of  their  truth  is  apt  to  be  coupled  with  the  reply, 
"  The  park  will  cost  so  much,  we  cannot  afford  it."  It  is  true 
that  it  will  cost  a  good  deal,  but  not  so  much  to  each  household 
as  the  inevitable  cost  of  the  sickness,  vice,  and  death,  which  the 
opportunities  that  a  park  provides  would  prevent.  Are  human 
life  and  health  and  virtue  so  cheap,  that  we  can  afford  to  count 
the  cost  of  procuring  and  maintaining  them  ?  Are  vice,  crime, 
and  disease  so  unimportant,  that  we  can  afford  to  let  them 
thrive,  and  propagate  themselves  indefinitely  ?  We  cannot 
repeat  too  often,  or  ponder  too  seriously,  the  statement  made  in 
the  first  report  of  the  Park  Commissioners :  "  Nothing  is  so 
costly  as  sickness  and  disease  :  nothing  so  cheap  as  health. 
Whatever  promotes  the  former  is  the  worst  sort  of  extrava- 
gance :  whatever  fosters  the  latter  is  the  truest  economy." 
The  truth  is,  it  will  cost  the  city  of  Boston  more  to  get  on  with- 
out a  park  than  to  incur  the  expense  of  buying  and  taking  care 
of  one.  We  pay  at  present  an  enormous  sum  yearly  for  the 
maintenance  of  hospitals,  prisons,  jails,  and  workhouses.  It  is 
not  asserted  that  the  establishment  of  a  park  will  depopulate 
these  institutions,  or  render  them  unnecessary  ;  but  no  sanitarian 
will  deny  that  one  result,  and  a  most  important  one,  of  the 
establishment  of  a  park,  would  be  to  diminish  the  number  of 
those  who  are  compelled  to  resort  to  these  institutions.  A 
greater  economy  than  all  this  would  be  found  to  accrue  to  each 
household  in  the  increased  comfort,  diminished  sickness,  more 
vigorous  health,  and  ample  enjoyment,  that  would  be  added  to 
all  its  members. 

Boston  has  been  long  and  justly  celebrated  for  its  health, 
beauty,  and  wealth^ '  If  it  loses  the  two  first  of  these  dis- 
tinctions, how  long  will  it  retain  the  last  ?  Business  and  popu- 
lation will  turn  away  from  an  unhealthy  and  unattractive  town. 
Defective  sewerage  and  imperfect  drainage  are  sapping  the 
health ;  and  the  occupation  of  the  suburbs  by  houses,  manu- 
factories, workshops,  and  stores,  is  destroying  the  beauty  of 
the  city.  Will  the  merchants  of  Boston,  whose  reputation  for 
intelligence,  sagacity,  and  enterprise  has  gone  out  to  the  ends 
of  the  world,  permit  a  false  economy  to  blind  them  to  the  im- 
portance of  this  whole  matter  ? 


102 


44  PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 

Of  the  details  of  the  financial  question,  I  am  not  qualified  to 
speak ;  but  I  will  venture  a  single  remark.  It  seems  only  a 
piece  of  common  sense  to  one  unfamiliar  with  the  intricate  prob- 
lems of  finance  to  say,  that,  if  the  present  time  is  one  of  great 
depression  of  values,  it  is  precisely  the  time  when  a  wealthy 
corporation  like  the  city  of  Boston  can  purchase  the  land  for  a 
park  at  the  lowest  price,  and  therefore  should  do  it. 

Permit  me  to  add  a  single  word  with  regard  to  the  plan  pro- 
posed by  the  Commissioners.  It  offers  more  advantages,  and 
fewer  disadvantages,  than  any  other  that  has  been  proposed. 
This  might  be  expected,  when  we  reflect  that  it  was  prepared  in 
accordance  with  the  advice  of  Mr.  Olmstead,  than  whom  no 
one  is  better  qualified  to  advise  in  such  matters.  It  may  be 
safely  asserted,  that  if  Boston  should  accept  this  plan,  and  au- 
thorize it  to  be  carried  out,  the  city  would  possess  a  park  unique 
in  its  character,  of  unrivalled  beauty,  and  one  which  all  our 
citizens,  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor,  would  greatly  enjoy,  and 
of  which,  if  they  once  obtained  it,  they  would  never  be  bribed 
to  dispossess  themselves. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Ellis,  in  his  recent  eloquent  address  at  the  cen- 
tennial anniversary  of  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  used  the  fol- 
lowing language,  44  As  I  read  the  history  of  our  fathers  in  all 
their  generations,  their  toil  and  virtue  seem  to  me  to  have  been 
the  noblest,  in  their  steady  regard  for  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  their  posterity.  And  as  I  firmly  believe  that  no  single  indi- 
vidual can  follow  the  highest  pattern  of  an  earthly  life,  unless 
his  hope  and  faith  link  on  to  a  future,  so  I  find  it  proved  in  all 
biographies  and  annals,  that  all  unselfish,  noble,  and  heroic  lives 
are  those  which  parents  lead  for  their  children  and  their  chil- 
dren's children.  We  have  such  lives  among  us  in  city,  state, 
and  nation,  private  and  public,  high  and  humble."  May  we  be 
true  to  the  reputation  and  tradition  of  our  fathers,  and  provide 
as  intelligently  for  the  well-being  of  ourselves  and  our  posterity 
as  they  provided  for  themselves  and  for  us  ! 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  very  truly  yours, 

Edvy\  H.  Clakke. 

Arlington  Street,  Boston,  June  6,  1876. 


103 

COMMITTEE  OF  ONE  HUNDRED.  45 

The  President,  in  calling  for  a  vote  on  the  resolutions,  said,  I 
merely  wish  to  say  that  old  Faneuil  Hall  can  stand  a  great  deal 
of  noise  ;  but  still  I  would  recommend,  for  the  benefit  of  future 
audiences,  that  you  should  not  take  off  the  roof,  nor  burst  the 
windows,  nor  put  out  the  gas.  [Laughter.] 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  agreed  to  ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing committee  of  a  hundred,  to  present  the  result  of  the 
meeting  to  the  city  government,  was  appointed  ;  the  assembly 
dispersing  shortly  after  ten  o'clock. 


COMMITTEE  OF  ONE  HUNDRED. 


Joseph  S.  Ropes 

>>  Hliam  i .  Hunt 

iviarsuaii  i .  >>  uuer 

rr„  „ :  i  f ...    \    tt:  i  1 

Hamilton  A.  mil 

\Jll\GT  >v  .  noimts.  jM.U. 

jo?epn  x .  jraui 

Richard  Frothincrham 

L/narie>  vv .  >>  uoer 

Samuel  Cabot,  M  D. 

M.  F.  Dickinson,  jun. 

o.  xsaxter  Lpnam,  31. L). 

Jr.  A.  Loinns 

Thomas  J.  Gargan 

Albert  Bowker 

George  C.  Richardson 

John  C.  Pratt 

John  Jr.  Keynolus,  M. D. 

Jerome  Jones 

*Tr  iVi  n   W    f"1^  n  rl  lc*t« 
uuiui   m  ,  v*<iiiuici 

11.   11.   .rY.   UctlCLI,   JH.  JL/. 

George  B.  Chase 

S.  J.  Langmaid,  M.D. 

William  E.  Coffin 

Joseph  H.  Chadwick 

Francis  A.  Osborn 

Benjamin  Deane 

Ralph  Crooker 

J.  J.  McNutt 

Robert  Seaver 

Xath;  Adams 

J.  Mitchell  Galvin 

B.  F.  Nourse 

W.  W.  Morland,  M.D. 

Martin  Griffin 

Richard  Olney 

John  J.  May 

Joseph  W.  Balch 

M.  Doherty 

C.  Allen  Richards 

Thomas  B.  Curtis,  M.D. 

Charles  L.  Thayer 

Thomas  Gogin 

William  E.  Perkins 

Royal  E.  Robbins 

James  Edwards 

William  W.  Clapp 

J.  Tisdale  Bradlee 

E.  B.  Haskell 

Jonas  Fitch 

C.  F.  Donnelly 

James  Sturgis 

T.  Quincy  Browne 

J.  X.  Borland,  M.D. 

F.  E.  Goodrich 

Charles  W.  Slack 

Charles  W.  Morris 

Clement  H.  Hill 

D.  N.  Skillings 

William  V.  Hutchings 

Hales  W.  Suter 

William  T.  Hart 

Henry  Smith 

PARKS  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


Robert  Johnson 
Asa  P.  Potter 
"William  J.  R.  Evans 
Charles  .So  well 
Jacob  P&ff 
Eben  D.  Jordan 
George  Woods  Rice 
Thomas  Mack 
Lewis  Coleman 
Charles  F,  Choate 
Roland  Worthinaton 
M.  B.  Leonard,  M.D. 
A.  H.  Lewis 
George  G.  Crocker 
Charles  L.  Haley 
Waldo  Adams 
John  F.  Pa}  son 
Ilollis  Hunnewell 
Martin  Hayes 


William  Atherton 
Charles  J.  Bishop 
Aaron  D.  Williams 
Henry  C.  Morse 
S.  Park  man  Dexter 
George  P.  King 
Albert  Thompson 
Joseph  Dix 
EL  M.  Bearce 
Wiliam  B.  Bacon 
George  O.  Carpenter 
Henry  J.  Nazro 
J.  Kent  Crowley 
James  N.  Spillane 
W.  H.  Forbes 
J.  B.  Dacey 
James  F.  Gray 
John  Bigelow 
A.  Claxton  Cary 


103 

I  of 


10(5 


I 


107 

m 


3  9031  033  43015  8 
SJUOTPLE  VOLUMES  SOUND  wfwpp 

* 


